Lighter's LIT token rises 14% as protocol indicates active buyback

Decentralized perpetuals exchange Lighter's native token saw a notable price increase on Monday as onchain data showed signs that a token buyback program may be underway.

According to The Block's price page, Lighter's LIT rose 13.9% in the past 24 hours to trade at roughly $3.04. This price surge came as speculation circulated within the crypto community that the perps DEX started buying back its LIT token.

The price surge was bolstered by Lighter addressing the speculations via its official X account, stating that "fees generated and protocol buybacks can be tracked with the treasury account in the block explorer." The post linked to the onchain treasury address and referenced earlier commitments to allocate revenues between ecosystem growth and token buybacks based on market conditions.

While the platform has not formally confirmed the buyback, onchain treasury data shows an increase in its LIT balance. As of 10:00 p.m. ET Monday, the treasury account (Account #0) held 180,588 LIT, worth around $548,987.

The Block has reached out to Lighter for confirmation of the buyback and further comment on the matter.

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The Ethereum-based DEX unveiled its native token last week, with a commitment to allocate 50% of the 1 billion supply to the ecosystem. It said that revenues from the platform and future products will be used for growth initiatives and token buybacks, depending on market conditions.

"The value created by all Lighter products and services will fully accrue to LIT holders," the team wrote at the time.

Lighter, which launched its public mainnet in October, quickly became one of the most popular perps exchanges. In December, it reported over $200 billion in monthly trade volume, outperforming Aster's $177.5 billion and Hyperliquid's $169.3 billion, according to The Block's data dashboard. Lighter recently raised $68 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital.