Lighter, a decentralized perpetual exchange, saw roughly $250 million pulled from its platform within 24 hours of a massive token airdrop, on-chain analytics firm Bubblemaps reported.
Bubblemaps’ data showed users withdrew about $201.9 million worth of tokens on Ethereum and roughly $52.2 million on Arbitrum after Lighter distributed $675 million in LIT tokens on Tuesday. In an X post, the firm even asked if “all the (yield) farmers were leaving?”
Nicolas Vaiman, CEO of Bubblemaps, told CoinDesk these outflows equal “more or less 20% of Lighter’s total value locked (TVL) assets,” which DeFiLlama estimates at $1.4 billion. He added that while the figure is large, such withdrawals aren’t unusual after token launches: “outflows like this following an airdrop are not uncommon as users rebalance hedging positions and move capital to the next farming opportunity.” Vaiman noted similar patterns after Hyperliquid and Aster token launches and predicted the trend will likely repeat with other airdrops, naming projects like PERP DEX, Paradex and Extended.
Security researcher Natalie Newson of CertiK echoed that observation, telling CoinDesk that “large withdrawals after TGEs are usually driven by airdrop farmers and early participants exiting their positions.” She warned that opaque token distribution details can create “a fog that allows a few insiders to operate and capture outsized gains shortly after launch.”
Market indicators show notable activity around LIT beyond withdrawals. LIT trading volume, which generally ranged between $8 billion and $15 billion in November, fell to as low as $2 billion in recent days, according to DeFiLlama. The token’s price has slid nearly 23% since Dec. 30, dropping from $3.37 to about $2.57.
Taken together, the withdrawals and price pressure highlight a familiar post-airdrop dynamic in DeFi: rapid redistribution of capital by yield-seeking participants and the short-term volatility that can follow large token distributions.
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