How Robinhood Perps Use Lighter to Make a New DeFi Mullet

Summary

Vlad Novakovski, founder and CEO of Lighter, explains how Lighter powers Robinhood's new onchain perpetuals, with a 50% revenue split that flows to LIT token buybacks. He addresses USDG collateral risks, the competitive US perp landscape, and the pending CFTC license for decentralized perps.

• Lighter’s perps are integrated into Robinhood Wallet, giving retail easy access to onchain leveraged trading (non-US initially).
• Revenue from Robinhood Chain perps is shared 50/50, with Lighter’s share going directly to LIT token buybacks.
• USDG as the quote asset creates friction for market makers but also attracts retail flow; Lighter plans to support multiple stablecoins and tokenized stock collateral.
• Onchain perps have grown from 1% to 10-20% of the market, and Vlad expects continued shift from centralized to decentralized rails.
• Lighter is pursuing a CFTC license for decentralized perps, which would allow Robinhood to plug into Lighter from its US app.
• Competition is intensifying with Kalshi, Coinbase, Kraken, and dYdX, but Lighter’s Telegram integration has been a top volume driver.
• Tokenized stocks will soon be usable as collateral on Lighter with higher liquidation fees to manage 24/7 trading risk.