Lighter Airdrop of $675 million $LIT sparks controversy, users dissatisfied with the airdrop mechanism

According to Bubblemaps data, the decentralized perpetual contract exchange (Perp DEX) Lighter issued its native token $LIT on December 30, 2025 (TGE), distributing up to $675 million worth of tokens to early participants via airdrop. Lighter allocated 50% of the total supply to the ecosystem, including an immediate airdrop of 25% of the tokens to early participants of the 2025 points season. This move directly converted 12.5 million points from the first and second seasons into LIT (distributing 20 tokens per point), aiming to reward loyal users. However, it sparked strong community backlash due to perceptions of unfairness. Half of the community praised the promotion as fair and community-centric, while the other half questioned resource allocation favoring insiders and long-term impacts. Does the LIT token economy divide the DeFi community? Critics describe its structure as “VC-led,” contrasting with community-driven models like Hyperliquid, because 50% of tokens are allocated to the team (26%) and investors (24%), with a one-year cliff (Cliff) and a 3-year linear unlock. Lighter is issued as a C-Corp entity in the US, bypassing traditional foundations like Ripple’s XRP, which further fuels controversy and raises questions about regulatory compliance and token utility. After the airdrop, approximately $30 million in funds quickly withdrew from the Lighter platform, sparking community discussions about short-term profit-taking versus long-term commitment. This indicates disappointment among users participating in points mining under opaque rules. On-chain data shows that as incentive-driven activities decline, trading volume and total value locked (TVL) have decreased, and community sentiment has become more cautious. Although (the pre-sale market trading price was around $2.80, the fully diluted valuation (FDV) between $20 billion and $30 billion has sparked controversy, with trading pairs on major exchanges still pending. Critics highlight risks such as past platform outages during market volatility and the LLP liquidity pool mechanism potentially amplifying losses in extreme scenarios. Discussions emphasize concerns over protocol revenue—$105 million annually, with a market cap of $700 million—that failed to sustain after the hype, especially without detailed buyback plans, despite promises that LIT holders would benefit from value accumulation. This capital outflow underscores a common trend in decentralized perpetual contract exchanges: shifting from incentive-driven growth to scrutiny of genuine demand. Market bets on LIT’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) have sharply deteriorated, with the probability of LIT exceeding $4 billion on Polymarket dropping to just 8%, with odds turning bearish. Current pre-market estimates range from $2 billion to $3 billion, reflecting trader disagreement amid unlocking pressures and unverified tokenomics. Coinbase’s roadmap inclusion and spot listing initially fueled speculation, but without transparent mechanisms linking fees to buybacks or governance, skeptics predict further declines.