Key Takeaways
Why is Lighter compensating traders?
A database failure during October’s crash locked users out, causing heavy losses across 2,000+ accounts.
What’s next for Lighter’s users?
Compensation starts Monday in stablecoins and points, ahead of the platform’s token launch.
Lighter decentralized exchange (DEX) has announced plans to fully compensate traders who were affected during the recent system outage.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the platform said that it would roll out repayment for over 2000 users who were impacted by the 4.5-hour downtime on the 10th of October.
Source: X
Lighter added that victims would receive stablecoins and points (used for farming its upcoming token) as part of the compensation package.
Crypto flash crash impact
According to Lighter, the outage was triggered by the database upgrade hiccup, just after the Friday market crash.
Over that period, users couldn’t enter or exit trades, leading to over 2000 affected victims. Per its post-mortem, 367 users lost over $10K while 38 traders lost over $100K. Overall, 2008 users lost over $1K.
However, the crash on the 10th of October also overwhelmed other leading platforms like Binance [BNB] and Robinhood. Although Binance co-founder Yi He didn’t commit to refunding losses, she reiterated that they’ll address every complaint on a case-by-case basis.
Lighter challenges Hyperliquid’s lead
That being said, Lighter is a perp DEX based on Ethereum [ETH]. Alongside Aster [ASTER], the duo seeks to challenge Hyperliquid’s [HYPE] dominance in the perp DEX space.
Interestingly, Lighter has been on a tear lately. As of October, it saw $93 billion in Perp Volume while Hyperliquid raked in $109 billion over the same period.
Source: The Block
But the growth isn’t surprising as the platform doesn’t charge retail users fees. Only high-frequency flow and API pay fees to access the platform.
However, Lighter could release its native token later in Q4, 2025. Currently, it’s running the second phase of its point farming, allowing users to get a share of the token supply.
As a result, the farming could juice its overall perp volume as users chase its upcoming token launch.
Meanwhile, the broader Perp DEX segment posted mixed results after the Friday crash.
Notably, HYPE’s price was down another 6% in the past 24 hours. MYX Finance [MYX] also dipped 4% but ASTER rebounded 4%.
