The day before the token launch, the community asked ten questions to the founder of Lighter.

_This article is from: _jez (@izebel_eth）

Compiled by｜Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)；Translator｜Azuma (@azuma_eth)

_Editor’s note: Based on market rumors and the odds on Polymarket, it seems that Lighter's TGE will take place on December 29 is no longer a secret. At this critical juncture before the token launch, Lighter's founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski participated in a Twitter Space interview with _jez (@izebel_eth）_.

In the conversation, Vladimir answered questions regarding the token launch date, point distribution, witch screening, product updates, future direction, community communication, and more that the community is concerned about.

The following is a selection of content from Vladimir's interview, organized and compiled by Odaily Planet Daily.

Opening

Host (jec): This is my first time hosting Twitter Spaces. So please bear with me for any unexpected situations that may arise. Today, I am very pleased to invite Vladimir Novakovski, the founder and CEO of Lighter. I will ask him some questions that come from myself, Discord, Twitter, and other community group chats. Before we start, Vladimir, do you have anything you would like to say first?

Vladimir: No, let’s just get started.

Q1: Direct Inquiry on Token Launch Time

Host: The first question is simple, when will the token be launched?

Vladimir: You know, we previously said “this holiday will be very exciting,” so I think the community can interpret that in different ways.

Q2: Future Direction of Lighter

Host: Alright, let’s continue discussing the roadmap. What are your plans for Lighter in the coming months and years? By the way, is there really a so-called “Sun Brother exclusive version of ZK circuits”?

Vladimir: Haha, there was some FUD about this online before, but it was basically just a joke. We released the ZK circuit code this week, and I have had quite a few people check out that code. However, it should be noted that the point system does not go through these circuits. So for those who earned a lot of points and received LLP shares before, that part is unverifiable.

In the future, if the native token can be used for staking, obtaining LLP shares, or unlocking other product permissions, that will be verifiable, but right now the point system itself has not been circuit-verified, so the claim of “leaving a backdoor in the circuit for whales” is essentially just a joke.

Host: Let’s put it this way, every time I hear the word “circuit,” my mind gets a bit foggy. Assuming I know nothing about ZK and am too lazy to really understand it, how would you explain to me what practical outcomes Lighter can achieve by using ZK circuits?

Vladimir: Basically, this means that everything Lighter does is verifiable and will be published to the Ethereum network.

From a practical perspective, if you are a trading user, you don’t have to worry that my orders will be executed unfairly in a different order than another trader, nor do you have to worry that positions will be liquidated at incorrect prices; all of this can be guaranteed by the circuit.

As Lighter expands its business scope, everything will still be verifiable. This also means that the circuit can coexist with other things happening on Ethereum, as well as the EVM sidechain we are developing. We can talk more about this.

Host: Give a more specific example.

Vladimir: For example, you can use any type of asset as collateral. You can use ETH as collateral, or you can use assets on Aave or Morpho as collateral for Lighter.

Host: So, I can integrate existing Ethereum L1 DeFi protocols? Is this the integration method you envision? Are you more inclined to integrate with the existing L1 ecosystem, or to build a completely independent L2 ecosystem?

Vladimir: The core purpose of L2 is to build a super high-performance exchange on top of Ethereum, and we have achieved that. Currently, Lighter L2 has the highest TPS on Ethereum and is the fourth largest L2 by TVL.

The significance of L2 is to support high-performance applications, such as perpetual contract trading and other trading scenarios that require extremely high performance, but many DeFi applications do not actually need such high performance; they already run well on Ethereum. So we will not reinvent the wheel but choose to combine with the existing DeFi ecosystem, while also having new high-performance applications born on L2, introducing some new asset classes that may not even exist yet (such as RWA, options, etc.).

What is certain is that there is already a very large DeFi ecosystem on Ethereum, and combining with them will be a huge opportunity space.

Q3: Opportunities and Risks of Unified Margin

Host: You launched spot trading a month ago, and you also mentioned that spot positions can be used as collateral. This naturally leads to the next question: what is your view on the unified margin model (Universal Cross-Margin)? How is this considered in terms of design and risk control?

Vladimir: We will proceed step by step; this is something that must be done, but it must be done under strict risk control. Even within a stablecoin collateral system, issues like liquidation mechanisms and ADL (automatic deleveraging) need to be fully considered. As you have seen, there has been a lot of discussion about ADL in recent weeks.

We will start by supporting multiple stablecoins as collateral, such as USDC (we are working with Circle to promote the landing of Lighter's native USDC), and then we can support more stablecoins and allow free switching between them as collateral. Once this step is completed, we will gradually add mainstream assets like ETH and BTC, and even introduce the native token as collateral, but different assets will correspond to different risk models—higher-risk assets may require higher liquidation fees. These models will take time to refine, but this is one of our key focuses for next year.

Q4: Lighter's Token Listing Strategy

Host: In the risk model, trading assets are as important as collateral assets. What is your expansion strategy for token listings?

Vladimir: This is a very interesting direction; the native token will play an important role here, helping to achieve a more permissionless token listing experience. Currently, we are communicating with many teams, not only for perpetual contracts but also for spot assets, such as tokenized stocks that Robinhood is working on.

In the long run, if a good incentive alignment mechanism can be formed in the ecosystem, users holding a certain amount of native tokens will be able to have a greater influence on token listing choices and ecosystem direction.

Host: This raises another question. What is your view on tokenized stocks and RWA assets like Pokémon cards and precious metals? What is the adoption path under the current regulatory environment?

Vladimir: I think this is a huge opportunity in the coming years. We have finally reached a stage where DeFi and TradFi are no longer just coexisting but can truly combine together.

We have already communicated with Robinhood and discussed these issues with traditional exchanges and large hedge funds. At the same time, we are also participating in some regulatory discussions in Washington… I think the first step may be to support the tokenized stocks that Robinhood is already working on, but there will definitely be more developments in the future.

Q5: Mobile Layout

Host: Let’s switch to a topic I am personally very concerned about: what is your view on mobile?

Vladimir: I have actually mentioned before that we have invested a lot of time in mobile and are indeed developing an app, and it is progressing quite well. Some early traders in the community have already tested it, and we will release relevant announcements in the coming weeks, so you can stay tuned.

Of course, we also welcome other developers to build applications. But for certain types of traders, they prefer the same team to develop the core protocol, desktop, and mobile apps simultaneously, so this is a direction we are focusing on, and we hope it will be used by many traders.

Host: When I think of mobile, I usually divide it into two categories. One is aimed at users who have already entered the crypto world, where mobile can provide more convenience; the other is aimed at new users outside the circle, where mobile can lower the barrier to entry. Which direction will your mobile focus on?

Vladimir: Yes, our mobile will have two modes. One is a more professional mode, suitable for users who are actively trading on desktop but need to operate while on the go; the other is a lighter mode, aimed at newcomers who are just starting to get involved.

Host: Will it include its own deposit and withdrawal processes, or will users still need to go through paths like Arbitrum?

Vladimir: We are still finalizing these details, but the goal is definitely to achieve a very smooth deposit experience. We are communicating with some teams that do this kind of business to make the process very simple. Of course, there are still some decisions to be made, but this is indeed our goal.

Robinhood does this very well— from the first time you hear about this app to completing your first trade, the time in between should be very short. This is also one of our very clear goals.

Q6: Collaboration with Robinhood

Host: You have mentioned Robinhood multiple times. What have you gained from your relationship with Vlad Tenev (the founder of Robinhood)? Will there be collaborative space between Lighter and Robinhood in the future?

Vladimir: Of course. We have previously mentioned tokenized stocks, which is one of the directions we have already started exploring together. In addition, you can look at what they are doing—they have centralized products but are also making many attempts at the wallet level, exploring how to enhance the overall experience. Considering they are also building L2 within the Ethereum ecosystem, it’s easy to imagine that there will be many interesting combinations in the future.

Once we have concrete products in place, we will have more to share. From a learning perspective, one thing I think has been long underestimated in the crypto industry is the true user-centric approach that values user experience; another point is not to be afraid to try new business models.

Host: Can you elaborate on that?

Vladimir: Taking Robinhood as an example, the early zero-commission model itself was a very crazy idea. Even within the team and among early users, there was uncertainty about whether this would be feasible.

When we tried a similar model at Lighter, it was the same. You have to constantly experiment in different strategic spaces, rather than just copying the same fee structure because “everyone is doing it.” That may not be the optimal solution. This doesn’t mean that every new idea will succeed, but there are many paths to innovation.

For us, the core is to provide the best experience for retail investors, which will naturally attract trading firms and market makers, thus achieving monetization. This logic itself is very powerful. My experience at Citadel also taught me this; when Citadel expanded from a hedge fund to securities business, it was also considered a crazy idea—wasn’t that something investment banks should do? Is this even a securities business? But now, many large hedge funds have their own securities divisions.

Q7: Fee and Revenue Model

Host: Many people are curious about your fee structure, revenue model, and sustainability. Many are asking what will happen when you reopen fees? So from a more macro perspective, how do you view your business model, and where does your real revenue come from?

Vladimir: Actually, the fees have been in place since October. Overall, we have introduced a premium tier and are also considering more tiers, mainly to serve higher-frequency traders. We have made significant optimizations in TPS, and we can now support higher-level trading demands.

In general, in the first two months after the fees were implemented (it’s now close to three months), the fee revenue has actually exceeded our expectations. One interesting thing is that we were originally concerned that some trading institutions trading on Lighter would reduce their trading volume after the fees were implemented, but in fact, we have not seen this at all. On the contrary, the feedback we received from them is that they actually prefer to implement a multi-tiered fee structure based on latency conditions, as this makes it easier for them to model and design different trading strategies.

So far, we are satisfied with the performance of the fees. As new products are launched, we will continue to experiment with different charging models. So far, the idea of “free for retail, better for the overall ecosystem” has already been supported by good data.

Q8: Points Program and Witch Screening

Host: GLC Research asked a question. They are concerned about whether user and market maker participation can be sustained once the points subsidies end.

Vladimir: Ultimately, the design goal of the points system and future token economics is to align incentives. You can imagine if you were an early trader on Robinhood and also held its shares; or if you were trading on the NYSE while holding shares of Citadel Securities or Jane Street—that’s exactly what the token structure can achieve, and it’s one of the truly exciting aspects of this field.

Indeed, there are some people who are “not real traders” and are just engaging in wash trading; we have already reduced points for many of those accounts this week, but we must also acknowledge that there is still a significant amount of genuine trading demand in this market, and that demand is currently mainly staying on CEX.

In the future, as CeFi and DeFi further merge, the market opportunities remain very large. If we can create a truly powerful product in this area, trading activity will naturally flow in. From our perspective, the current scale on Lighter is just a small part of the overall market opportunity. So we will continue to focus on product development and maintain communication with users. Aligning incentives is a good thing, not a bad thing.

Host: The second season of the points program has ended. You just mentioned that points were reduced for witch addresses, and many people are concerned about your identification methods—what kind of behavior will be judged? Is there a possibility of misjudgment? Is there an appeal mechanism?

Vladimir: Yes, we do have an appeal mechanism, but so far, the number of appeals has been less than we expected. If users feel that the algorithm is unfair to them, they are welcome to fill out the appeal form in Discord. We will not disclose the specific algorithm details because we do not want people to target “optimize behavior.”

Overall, this involves a lot of data science work, including clustering analysis, behavioral pattern recognition, etc. Our quantitative team (whose daily work is to connect liquidity and market makers) also spent several weeks participating in this. In addition, we have communicated with some protocols that have done similar work, as well as individual “witch hunters.” We are confident in the final results, but if there are indeed misjudgments, please be sure to appeal.

Q9: Token Economic Model and Value Capture

Host: These points will eventually convert into tokens. Can you share the token economic structure? How much will the points program roughly account for the total supply?

Vladimir: We will soon release a more detailed announcement on this. Overall, 50% of the tokens will be allocated to the community, with a significant portion allocated to the first and second season points programs. The specific ratio will be announced soon. From the current market feedback, people’s expectations are relatively consistent with the actual design.

Host: What about the recent large on-chain transfers (for example, to Coinbase), can you explain?

Vladimir: Those transfers are unrelated to airdrops and are mainly custodial arrangements for investors and the team. We are working with two custodians, so the on-chain actions you see are unrelated to airdrops.

Host: Some people are concerned about VC financing issues and whether the value structure of “equity vs. tokens” is aligned; can you respond to that?

Vladimir: Of course. Our position is very clear—value will ultimately settle in the tokens, and all investors are participating under this premise.

We adhere to a principle: the token is the core alignment mechanism for all stakeholders—early users, the team, and investors are all in the same boat. There will not be a dual-track structure where “tokens have one set of value logic and equity another”; everything will revolve around the tokens, and further details will be gradually announced.

Host: So how will the tokens specifically capture value?

Vladimir: We will elaborate on this later, but it is certain that—revenue, new products, and ecosystem expansion will all revolve around the tokens. As the Lighter ecosystem and trading categories expand, value will naturally flow back to token holders.

If you compare it to traditional finance, think about how everyone participating in TradFi can hold shares in brokerages, market makers, and data companies—while now, this is being realized on-chain. This is the “big picture” of tokens in my view.

Host: Will revenue data be published in the future? Will it be programmatically linked to the tokens?

Vladimir: Yes, we will publish revenue data. As for how to use this revenue and whether it will be tied to the token mechanism, this will be clarified as products are rolled out. The core goal is always to let value settle in the tokens and drive ecosystem growth, thereby enhancing the rights of token holders.

Q10: More Support for the Chinese Community!

Host: I have another question from Discord, mainly targeting Chinese users and other non-English, more global communities. What are your plans for local language support?

Vladimir: We currently support about 10 languages. Are you referring to support for community groups like WeChat groups?

Host: Yes, regional community management.

Vladimir: Understood. I think this is a very reasonable question. We are indeed expanding the team and will be more localized.

We already have a few members in Asia and are building a more complete regional structure, and we will definitely continue to hire relevant personnel. So we have clear plans in this regard.

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