Lighter LIT Token Airdrop 2025 Sparks Sudden $250M Capital Flight

The party's over for some, and it only lasted a day. Lighter, a decentralized perpetual exchange, saw a massive $250 million withdrawal within just 24 hours of its highly anticipated $675 millionLIT token airdrop.

Lighter LIT Token Airdrop 2025: Analyzing the 20% TVL Drop

According to data from Bubblemaps, the exit was swift. Users pulled approximately $201.9 million from the Ethereum blockchain and $52.2 million from Arbitrum. These outflows represent nearly 20% of Lighter's total value locked (TVL), which stood at $1.4 billion prior to the event.

The market reaction was immediate. The price of LIT plummeted from $3.37 on December 30 to roughly $2.57—a 23% decline. Trading volumes, which peaked at $15 billion in November, have also cooled significantly to around $2 billion recently.

Yield Farmers Move on to the Next Harvest

Industry experts aren't entirely surprised. Nicolas Vaiman, CEO of Bubblemaps, told CoinDesk that such outflows are common as users "move capital to the next farming opportunity." However, Natalie Newson from CertiK warned that the lack of transparency in new token distributions often creates a "fog" that allows insiders to capture outsized gains at the expense of latecomers.