Bitwise launched the Bitwise Lighter Staking ETP on Deutsche Börse Xetra on September 23, marking what the firm calls the world's first exchange-traded product tracking LIT, the native token of decentralized derivatives exchange Lighter. The product, trading under ticker BLIT with ISIN DE000A4AV9T5, tracks the Kaiko Lighter Reference Rate Index and carries a total expense ratio of 0.85% annually.
"We're pleased to announce the launch of the Bitwise Lighter Staking ETP, the world's first exchange-traded product providing exposure to $LIT," Bitwise Europe posted on X. "Lighter: a decentralised perpetual futures exchange built on Ethereum. LIT is its governance and staking token."
The ETP is fully backed by LIT tokens held in cold storage and can be purchased through a standard brokerage account without requiring investors to manage a crypto wallet or private keys.
$LIT is now accessible to investors through the world’s first Lighter staking ETP, launched by Bitwise in Europe. https://t.co/OhS59UrZ1N
— Lighter (@Lighter_xyz) September 23, 2026
What Lighter actually does and why it differs from a traditional broker
Lighter functions as a decentralized exchange where users trade both cryptocurrencies and perpetual futures contracts tracking major global stocks, including Apple, Amazon, and Tesla, without a traditional broker holding their funds. Trading runs across most of the week, with the platform moving toward full round-the-clock access, removing the fixed hours and geographic restrictions typical of conventional stock exchanges.
The mechanism that makes this possible is settlement through blockchain infrastructure rather than a centralized brokerage ledger. When a trader opens a stock-tracking perpetual on Lighter, they are not buying an actual share of Apple or Tesla. They hold a synthetic derivative contract whose price is designed to track the underlying stock, settled and collateralized entirely on-chain. This structure lets Lighter offer exposure to US equities outside standard NYSE and Nasdaq trading hours, since the platform never needs to route an order through the actual exchange where the underlying stock trades. Founder Vladimir Novakovski described the underlying technical approach directly:
"Lighter was built to bring institutional-grade perpetuals trading fully on-chain, using zero-knowledge proofs to guarantee fair, verifiable execution without sacrificing speed."
Lighter charges retail traders no trading fees, generating revenue instead from professional market makers, liquidations, and treasury income, a model Bitwise credits for supporting the platform's rapid growth since launch.
How the fee-free model compares to Hyperliquid's approach
Lighter's zero-fee retail model and its use of zero-knowledge proofs for execution verification distinguish it technically from Hyperliquid, the dominant on-chain perpetuals exchange that has processed over $8 billion in open interest and multiple billions in daily volume. Hyperliquid runs on its own custom layer-1 blockchain optimized specifically for order-book trading, while Lighter is built on Ethereum and relies on zk-proofs to guarantee that trade execution matches what the platform claims occurred, without requiring every participant to independently re-verify each transaction. Both platforms compete for the same broad category of on-chain derivatives traders, but their underlying architecture reflects different bets about how to scale verifiable, fast execution: Hyperliquid through purpose-built infrastructure, Lighter through cryptographic proof systems layered onto Ethereum's existing security.
Why Bitwise is treating this category as a growth area
This is not Bitwise's first ETP tracking a decentralized derivatives platform's native token. The firm launched the Bitwise Hyperliquid Staking ETP in April, tracking HYPE under ticker BHYP. Bradley Duke, Managing Director and Head of Europe at Bitwise, framed the Lighter product as an extension of that same thesis.
"The Bitwise Lighter Staking ETP extends our European staking suite into a platform that is helping bring traditional assets like US stocks onto blockchain infrastructure, alongside crypto, and trading around the clock," Duke said. "As on-chain trading platforms increasingly bridge crypto and mainstream markets, we expect this kind of infrastructure to become more relevant to a broader range of investors."
Bitwise's decision to launch a second product in this specific niche, on-chain perpetuals exchanges offering tokenized stock access, within five months of the first suggests the firm sees durable investor demand for this category rather than treating Hyperliquid's success as a one-off. Bitwise currently manages more than $11 billion in client assets across ETPs, staking products, vaults, and other vehicles in both the US and Europe, giving the firm substantial distribution infrastructure to bring niche crypto-native tokens to traditional brokerage-account investors who would otherwise need direct wallet custody to gain exposure.
How the staking mechanism works and its current limitations
The ETP is designed to capture staking-related returns generated on Lighter in addition to tracking LIT's price. However, staking is not yet active. The product is structured to begin staking once assets under management reach a level sufficient to enable efficient staking operations. Until that threshold is met, the ETP provides exposure to LIT's price performance only, without any staking-related yield. Bitwise said the commencement of staking will be communicated separately along with relevant details.
This AUM-dependent staking activation is a structural feature common to newly launched staking ETPs, since running validator infrastructure or delegated staking positions typically carries fixed operational costs that only become efficient to absorb once the fund holds a sufficiently large token balance. Bitwise's BHYP product likely followed or is following a similar activation path, which suggests the firm has a standardized operational threshold it applies across its staking ETP lineup rather than a bespoke arrangement unique to BLIT.
BLIT is issued by Bitwise Europe GmbH, domiciled in Germany, with its base prospectus approved by BaFin, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. The product is not available to retail clients in the United Kingdom and France, where the offering is restricted to investment professionals only.
Tanya Petrusenko
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