The trading firm Bitwise has rolled out its first exchange-traded product tied to Lighter, the growing competitor to Hyperliquid, which lets European investors wager on the token without having to purchase it themselves.
On Wednesday, the Bitwise Lighter Staking ETP (BLIT) started trading on Deutsche Börse Xetra. It is the first ETP to track LIT, the native token of Lighter, a decentralized derivatives platform. The ETP is fully backed by LIT held in cold storage and charges a 0.85% annual expense ratio. European investors can purchase the ETP via a standard brokerage account.
The Product and Its Price
Bitwise has not started issuing staking rewards for BLIT. The company stated that staking will commence when the product accumulates sufficient assets under management to render the operation efficient. Until that threshold is met, the ETP will merely follow LIT’s price movements without yielding any staking returns.
This offering mirrors Bitwise’s launch of a Hyperliquid staking ETP in Europe in April. That move expanded Bitwise’’s own arrangement by featuring tokens connected to several of the biggest decentralized derivatives platforms.
Lighter is a decentralized exchange built on Ethereum that concentrates on perpetual futures. It employs zero-knowledge proofs to confirm trades, allowing users to retain custody of their assets instead of depositing them with a centralized exchange. The platform also provides retail users with zero-fee trading as part of its effort to challenge established platforms such as Hyperliquid.
CoinGecko data shows Lighter has traded close to $1.8 billion in volume within the last 24 hours.
The Rivalry With Hyperliquid
In July, Robinhood added Lighter to its platform by integrating the exchange into Robinhood Chain, which is the company’s Ethereum layer-2 network. Users with an eligible Robinhood Wallet can now trade perpetual futures through Lighter, with all trades settled via Lighter smart contracts on Robinhood Chain.
Hyperliquid controls more than 61% of decentralized perpetual futures trading, according to data cited by The Motley Fool, and has kept growing through its own partnerships. It is also the much larger player compared with Lighter, which works as an Ethereum layer-2, while Hyperliquid runs on its own layer-1 blockchain.
In May, Circle revealed plans to increase USDC use on Hyperliquid, adding greater depth of funds and simpler moves of the stablecoin between blockchains. Around $5 billion in USDC was kept on Hyperliquid at that point, according to Coinbase.
Key Facts Box
- Product: Bitwise Lighter Staking ETP (BLIT)
- Launch date: Wednesday
- Exchange: Deutsche Börse Xetra
- Expense ratio: 0.85% annually
- Backed by: LIT held in cold storage
- Staking rewards: Start after enough assets under management
- Lighter volume: Nearly $1.8 billion in 24 hours (CoinGecko)
Bitwise is expanding its crypto offerings tied to decentralized derivatives platforms with Lighter, and the launch marks a modest move within a larger strategy. The firm’s new product is the first exchange-traded fund to track the token.
Source material: “Bitwise launches first Lighter ETP amid Hyperliquid rivalry,” Cointelegraph.
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