Lighter aims to become the first Perp DEX project to apply for a U.S. regulatory license; $LIT surged 15% in 24 hours.

On October 22, Vladimir Novakovski, Founder and CEO of Lighter, revealed during the company’s Q3 investor call that Lighter is actively pursuing both a Designated Contract Market (DCM) and a Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) license. To ensure a clear and viable compliance pathway, the team has invested significant effort in deep, ongoing dialogue with staff at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), systematically mapping out all of its core regulatory principles. Most of these principles are already clearly addressable—and demonstrably satisfied—by Lighter’s existing onchain architecture. A subset, however, requires novel technical implementations—approaches not yet seen in prior regulatory practice. Notably, the CFTC is currently engaging in intensive discussions with Lighter to fully understand the underlying logic and operational mechanics of these solutions. Per the planned timeline, Lighter will formally submit its license applications next month; under applicable rules, regulators have up to 280 days to complete their review. Given that all foundational compliance preparations are already complete, Lighter expects the subsequent approval process to proceed efficiently. The company explicitly stated that, upon successful licensure, it will prioritize serving U.S. institutional clients—not retail investors.

Earlier, the announcement that Robinhood had launched perpetual contracts in the U.S. via Bitstamp triggered a sharp pullback in LIT token price. At the time, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev publicly noted that the decision not to partner with Lighter was driven by cautious consideration of the current regulatory landscape. Novakovski’s latest remarks at the investor call have reignited broad community expectations: once Lighter achieves full regulatory clearance, the likelihood of deeper collaboration with Robinhood is expected to rise significantly.

HTX market data shows that, fueled by this announcement and positive market sentiment, the LIT token surged as much as 15% within 24 hours, reaching a latest traded price of $3.76.