Lighter's LIT Burns Brighter: Tokenomics Overhaul Sends Perpetuals Token to Seven-Month Peak 🔥

Lighter's LIT rallied more than 20% on Monday to $2.60, reaching its highest level since January, after the perpetuals exchange unveiled a tokenomics overhaul that introduces permanent supply burns and a restructured staking framework. The gain made LIT the top performer among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies, extending a roughly 40% advance over the past week and far outpacing the broader market.

Under the new model, Lighter said it has repurchased about 15.5 million LIT since launch, equivalent to roughly 6.3% of the circulating supply, using exchange revenue. The protocol intends to send those tokens to a burn address on the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet to permanently reduce supply. The first burn is scheduled for the weeks following the close of the second quarter. "This is economically equivalent for LIT holders and allows Lighter to manage treasury operations efficiently and avoid unnecessary costs," the exchange said, noting it may burn undistributed LIT rather than the exact repurchased tokens.

Staking rewards will also shift under the updated design. Since launching its staking program in January, Lighter has distributed roughly 3.72 million LIT using pre-TGE revenue, including about 170,000 LIT through its fee credits program. Going forward, the exchange will fund rewards from its remaining ecosystem allocation of 250 million LIT, targeting a 6% annualized staking yield. With about 125 million LIT currently staked, the protocol would distribute approximately 7.5 million LIT per year under that rate.

LIT remains well below its $7.86 record set in December. The exchange has not disclosed whether the new burn schedule and staking mechanics will be adjusted based on future trading revenue or treasury performance.