Key Highlights
- LIT token jumps 18.52% to $3.13 amid buyback speculation and rising treasury holdings.
- Justin Sun purchases 13.25M LIT, representing 5.32% of circulating supply, using LLP funds.
- Lighter reports $200B December trading volume and maintains transparency via on-chain treasury data.
Decentralized perpetuals exchange Lighter saw its native token LIT jump more than 18% on Monday, driven by speculation that the platform may have started a token buyback program.
According to real-time market data, LIT was trading at around $3.13, with a 24-hour trading volume of $356,863,48 at the time of writing, with a live market cap of $78,33,47,548, marking a significant gain in a single day.
The surge comes as the crypto community closely tracks Lighter’s treasury account. On Monday evening, on-chain data showed the treasury held 180,750 LIT tokens, worth roughly $548,987.
Although the platform has not confirmed a buyback officially, it mentioned its treasury account on X where fees and buybacks could be observed publicly. Lighter has already mentioned that revenues would be distributed between ecosystem expansion and token buybacks based on the market conditions.
Strategic LIT purchases of Justin Sun
The price surge comes after Tron Founder Justin Sun’s acquisition of LIT in significant amounts in the last week. Sun purchased about $33 million LIT tokens with the money of Lighter Liquidity Protocol (LLP), which is more than 5% of the supply in circulation.
In early December, he withdrew $5.2 million USDC to purchase 1.66 million LIT as well, which added up to $38 million LLP withdrawals. The crypto community was highly interested in these purchases.
Analysts indicate that such massive token buys as such may affect the perception of the market and may create a price momentum in support of LIT.
These huge transactions were made possible by the huge liquidity that Sun had already injected into the LLP through a previous deposit of $200 million, which did not cause significant slippage.
History and marketplace
Lighter released its public mainnet in October and became one of the top perpetuals exchanges which are decentralized. It recorded a monthly trading volume of more than $200 billion in December, which was higher than other competitors such as Aster $177.5 billion and Hyperliquid $169.3 billion.
In its last round of funding, the platform attracted Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital as the lead investors in a round that raised $68 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion, according to Fortune.
Last week LIT token was launched, and the supply of the token, and there is a promise to distribute half of it to the development of the ecosystem. The team stressed that any value created by the products and services of Lighter would be beneficial to LIT holders.
Although the buybacks were not officially verified, the presence of the treasury movements and the high-profile purchases of the token by the investors such as Sun have contributed to the speculation and interest in the market.
Why this matters
The token activity of Lighter emphasizes the increased tendency toward exchanges with the help of treasury management and buybacks to underpin the value of the tokens. Onchain data, liquidity flows, and investor activity can give insights to investors and market observers on the possible price dynamics.
Although the buyback is not yet verified, the apparent growth of treasury and the strategic acquisitions indicate that efforts are being undertaken to help the token in the market.
Also Read: Jump Trading Nets $24M on Lighter Airdrop with Only One Month Activity
