Lighter Airdrop Fuels Polymarket Bets, Hyperliquid Lists LIT

Lighter, a perpetual decentralized exchange (perp DEX) and a major rival to Hyperliquid, is fueling airdrop speculation as Polymarket traders bet on a token launch before year’s end.

Sebas, also known as Babastianj, a core contributor to the Lighter DEX, announced on the project’s Discord channel Monday that the platform is finalizing key processes ahead of the highly anticipated token generation event (TGE).

“We’re in the final stretch of Season 2 and are running data science to remove Sybil, self-trading, and wash-trading points,” he said, adding that all slashed and removed points are planned to be redistributed to the community.

The announcement has fueled growing optimism over Lighter’s airdrop, further amplified with Hyperliquid’s listing of the yet-to-launch Lighter token against USDC (USDC) on Monday.

Lighter’s airdrop allocation form open until Friday

Lighter launched an airdrop allocation form on Sunday, allowing users to direct their tokens to up to four additional wallets.

The optional form lets users allocate different token amounts to each wallet, with submissions accepted through Friday.

“If you do not submit this form and are eligible, the airdrop will be sent to your main Lighter account,” Sebas said on Discord.

Lighter transferred 250 million LIT tokens — representing 25% of the total supply — on Friday, sparking community speculation that the move signaled an upcoming user airdrop ahead of the TGE, expected by Dec. 31.

According to Lighter, its Season 1 points program ended with the final private beta distribution on Sept. 30, while Season 2 points are distributed every Friday.

Related: Hyperliquid says ex-employee responsible for HYPE token shorting

The points are earned by running organic trading strategies via user interface and application programming interface.

Polymarket odds on Lighter airdrop at 86%

Amid rising community anticipation, the odds that Lighter’s airdrop will occur before the end of the year have been climbing on the prediction market Polymarket, with $9.5 million in volume backing bets that it will take place by Dec. 31.

At least 86% of traders have positioned their predictions on a “yes” scenario.

Onchain analyst Andrew 10 GWEI previously suggested that the airdrop would happen by the end of December, using an alleged insider bet proof on Polymarket.

The news follows Lighter’s $68 million fundraising round announced in November, led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and fintech investor Ribbit Capital, shortly after the platform launched its public mainnet in October.

Related: Coinbase opens Solana DEX access as CeFi and DeFi converge

Founded in 2022 by tech entrepreneur Vladimir Novakovski, Lighter has emerged as a key competitor in the perpetual decentralized exchange market, ranking as the second-largest perp DEX after Hyperliquid at the time of publication, according to DefiLlama data.

In mid-December, major US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase added Lighter to its listing roadmap, signaling a potential future listing of the token, which has yet to be generated.