Decentralized perpetuals buying and selling platform Lighter noticed its native token LIT surge almost 10% throughout the early hours of the US session.
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Lighter Strikes $920 Million USDC Income-Sharing Cope with Circle — A Win for DeFi Merchants
Lighter (LIT) Worth Efficiency. Supply: TradingView
The settlement covers roughly $920 million in USDC deposits on Lighter’s platform, marking a major milestone for the younger DeFi change.
Below the partnership, curiosity earnings generated from Circle’s USDC reserves can be shared between Circle and Lighter.
[ ZOOMER ]
LIGHTER STRIKES DEAL WITH CIRCLE TO SHARE REVENUE GENERATED ON THE $920M OF USDC DEPOSITED ON THE PLATFORM
— zoomer (@zoomerfied) February 12, 2026
This aligns with Circle’s broader revenue-sharing mannequin, which it has beforehand applied with main exchanges reminiscent of Coinbase and Bybit.
For Lighter, the deal presents a quick and capital-efficient path to develop its yield engine, fund person incentives, and help platform options reminiscent of funding fee rebates and rewards applications.
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In contrast to a few of its opponents, Lighter has opted to lean on USDC relatively than launching a proprietary stablecoin.
Hyperliquid, as an illustration, launched its native stablecoin USDH in late 2025 after a aggressive governance public sale. The transfer diverted billions in deposits and yield away from Circle and different stablecoin issuers.
It allowed Hyperliquid to seize income internally and cut back centralization dangers, however required important capital and infrastructure funding.
truthfully I like the best way lighter is increasing and experimenting with various things
particularly since these issues are simply copy pasta of what hyperliquid tried to do earlier than them
funding charge rebates, korean shares, LIT staking as prerequisite for LLP, rev share from deposited… https://t.co/ClfMJxF5hg
— Shual (@0xShual) February 12, 2026
Lighter Leverages Circle Partnership to Enhance Adoption, Liquidity, and LIT Token Sentiment
Lighter’s strategy, against this, permits the platform to faucet immediately into Circle’s established reserves whereas nonetheless benefiting from shared yield.
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This might speed up adoption by leveraging Circle’s USDC ecosystem, enabling Lighter to scale extra effectively whereas delivering worth to merchants and token holders.
The deal represents a possible win-win situation:
- Circle advantages by locking in a big quantity of USDC on a rising DeFi platform, incentivizing adoption and circulation.
- Lighter features entry to a gentle income stream, which might improve platform sustainability, entice extra liquidity, and enhance person engagement.
Transferring ahead, curiosity can be on on-chain USDC flows to Lighter contracts as this might present early indicators of the settlement’s influence on liquidity and token sentiment.
Lighter has been gaining traction within the DeFi perpetuals market, with rising buying and selling volumes, loyalty factors applications, and neighborhood engagement.
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Token listings on well-liked platforms like Robinhood have additionally contributed to its rising bullish sentiment.
The revenue-sharing announcement is predicted to spice up confidence, maybe additional than throughout its LIT token occasion in December.
However, it’s inconceivable to overlook previous controversies surrounding Lighter, together with allegations of secret token gross sales.
Is it true that 2.7 M $LIT (~$7.18 M) has already been bought since TGE from workforce wallets or wallets carefully related to the workforce?
If that is right, that’s a critical concern for each $LIT holder, particularly given the dearth of clear communication from the Lighter workforce.
— Henrik (@Henrik_on_HL) December 31, 2025
Whereas official particulars on the precise share break up of USDC curiosity haven’t but been disclosed, even a conservative association might present a significant increase to LIT holders.
Crypto traders are suggested to observe bulletins from each Lighter and Circle for updates, as revenue-sharing agreements of this scale can change rapidly.
