Bitwise launches Lighter ETP in Europe as crypto derivatives rivalry intensifies

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Bitwise Lighter ETP launch Europe

Highlights

Bitwise launched the Bitwise Lighter Staking ETP (BLIT) on Deutsche Börse Xetra with a 0.85% annual expense ratio, offering direct LIT token access without staking rewards until AUM thresholds are met.
Lighter, focused on decentralized perpetual futures, achieved $1.8 billion in 24-hour trading volume and expanded retail access in July via Robinhood Chain integration for eligible users.
Hyperliquid dominates the decentralized derivatives market with over 61% share, supported by a May Circle agreement to boost USDC use on its platform where $5 billion in USDC is held.

Lighter product adds listed exposure on Xetra

As reported by Cointelegraph, citing Bitwise, the Bitwise Lighter Staking ETP, trading under the ticker BLIT, has launched on Deutsche Börse Xetra as the first exchange-traded product tracking LIT, the native token of decentralized derivatives platform Lighter.

The product is fully backed by LIT held in cold storage and carries a 0.85% annual expense ratio. Investors in Europe can buy it through regular brokerage accounts instead of purchasing or custodying the token themselves.

Despite its name, the ETP is not yet generating staking rewards. Bitwise says staking will begin once the product reaches sufficient assets under management to make the process efficient, and until then BLIT tracks LIT's price without staking returns.

The launch follows Bitwise's Hyperliquid staking ETP introduced in Europe in April, extending the firm's crypto lineup into tokens linked to decentralized perpetual futures venues.

Competition in decentralized derivatives market

Lighter is an Ethereum-based decentralized exchange focused on perpetual futures and uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify trades while allowing users to keep control of their assets rather than deposit them on a centralized venue. The platform also offers zero-fee trading for retail users as it seeks to compete with larger decentralized derivatives platforms including Hyperliquid.

According to CoinGecko data cited in the source text, Lighter records nearly $1.8 billion in trading volume over the past 24 hours. Its distribution expanded in July when Robinhood integrated the exchange into Robinhood Chain, enabling eligible Robinhood Wallet users to trade perpetual futures through Lighter with settlement handled by Lighter smart contracts on the layer-2 network.

Hyperliquid remains the larger rival. Data cited by The Motley Fool shows it controls more than 61% of decentralized perpetual futures trading, while a May agreement announced by Circle aims to expand U.S. dollar coin USDC usage on Hyperliquid through deeper liquidity and easier cross-chain transfers; Coinbase said at the time that roughly $5 billion in USDC was held on the platform.

Our earlier article on Circle’s strategic deal with Binance covered how the stablecoin issuer paired a $100 million equity investment with a five-year agreement to promote USDC on the exchange. We noted that the arrangement boosted Circle’s shares and highlighted how distribution partnerships can expand a crypto asset’s reach, even as some analysts questioned what the structure signals about the market cycle.

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