Lighter CEO on 'Democratizing Finance' with a zero-fee, ZK perp DEX

In episode 8 of The Big Brain Podcast, Lighter founder Vladimir Novakovski explains why he built a zero-fee, ZK-powered perp DEX as an Ethereum L2, how it stacks up against CEXs and rival perp chains, and what they learned from recent market stress ahead of their token launch.

OUTLINE

00:00 – Introduction

04:50 – What Lighter is

06:15 – Why Ethereum L2 and ZK

11:03 – Zero-fee retail model

18:11 – Robinhood relationship & RH Chain

20:30 – L1 vs L2 value capture

27:08 – TGE timing and token value

30:29 – DYDX, Hyperliquid and CEX vs DeFi

35:52 – 10/10 crash and LLP risk

39:50 – Infra upgrades and closing