Lighter, a DEX focused on perpetual (perps) trading, has been tapped to power Telegram’s native leveraged trading.
In a statement on the 2nd of April, Wallet in Telegram said that users on the privacy-focused messenger can now trade crypto, stocks, metals, and oil with up to 50x leverage.
The wallet has seen strong adoption with over 150 million registered users.
About 25 million of these users are considered active, especially in P2P transfers and fiat on-ramps, making Telegram a key crypto trading terminal. The messenger itself has over 1 billion users.
As such, the integration of Lighter could boost trading volumes on the DEX too. As it stands, this is the primary and largest Lighter integration to date.
For comparison, its rival Hyperliquid runs perps trading for Phantom, Rabby, MetaMask, and others. This fueled Hyperliquid’s initial adoption by sharing fees from trades routed by the apps.
Could Lighter benefit from a similar traction?
Will the deal boost Lighter’s trading activity?
The collaboration comes at a time when the demand for perpetual trading has exploded. At the market peak last October, the overall perp volume reached $350 billion and $25 billion in Open Interest (OI).
Despite the broader crypto rout in the past few months, perp volume still hovered around $150 billion.
However, Lighter’s trading activity has declined significantly. Especially after the LIT’s token debut at the end of last December, which ended the farming period. As a result, traders who were hunting for an airdrop migrated elsewhere to search for new opportunities.
Consequently, Lighter’s trading activity fell sharply after December. This decline has extended into Q1 2026, and there hasn’t been any meaningful recovery in Q2 as the broader crypto market remains subdued.
So far, the weekly perps volumes have fallen from a record $75B in November to about $8B in April—an 89% decline in trading activity.
The protocol’s revenue also went downwards. It dropped from a weekly average of $4M to $325K, translating to a 91% revenue crash.
It’s worth pointing out that the brief relief in February boosted activity and revenue. Ultimately, this fueled the buyback of LIT, the protocol’s native token.
If Telegram integration improves activity and revenue improve in April, then the recent 30% recovery rally could extend. Otherwise, a rejection at $1 and low activity could drag LIT back to $0.78 or below.
Final Summary
- Telegram integration has fueled LIT’s recovery by 30% in early April.
- Lighter DEX’s revenue crashed 91%, but renewed trading activity from Telegram could help reverse it and boost LIT buyback.