Lighter launched its Ethereum ZK L2 Perp DEX just days before a $19 billion liquidation wave hit, and CEO Vladimir Novakovski walks us through why they built custom ZK circuits (not a generalized ZKVM) to guarantee verifiable order matching, transparent liquidations, and an “escape hatch” under extreme stress. We get the lowdown on ADL vs. LLP, their trader-first philosophy, and how proof-driven design beats vibes any day.
After surviving a mainnet launch outage, real-time stress test, and a head-to-head scorecard against Hyperliquid and Binance, Lighter’s roadmap now includes spot trading, universal cross-margin, a ZKVM sidecar, and new markets. The key lessons? Embrace transparency, understand L2 tradeoffs, and follow a clear, staged upgrade path.
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