Capital Markets Spotlight with Trevor King, Investor Relations of Lighter

Capital Markets Spotlight is a new Medici series featuring the people who run investor relations, capital markets, and institutional distribution — the functions behind how a token reaches institutional investors.

In this episode, Sean and David sit down with Trevor King, Investor Relations at Lighter, to discuss Lighter's vision for bringing financial markets onchain through perpetual futures.

Trevor explains why Lighter sees perpetual decentralized exchanges as much more than trading venues, with the potential to support prediction markets, options, equities, commodities, and other financial products. He also breaks down Lighter’s approach to market makers and retail traders, its distribution strategy with partners such as Robinhood, and why the company is focused on expanding into the U.S. market.

The conversation also covers the Robinhood Lighter instance, Lighter’s regulatory strategy, the Lighter EVM, token economics and buybacks, upcoming token unlocks, governance, and the biggest risks and opportunities facing the business.

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Key Points From This Episode:

00:00 Introduction

00:48 Trevor explains Lighter’s goal of bringing financial markets onchain and why perpetual exchanges can become broader ecosystems.

03:11 What makes perpetual futures distinct from spot, dated futures, and options, and why they serve retail and hedge funds.

06:13 Trevor compares perpetual DEX economics and infrastructure with traditional exchanges and discusses competition.

08:11 How Lighter could coexist and compete with traditional venues as perpetual futures gain adoption.

10:03 The relationship between exchanges, traders, and market makers, including Lighter’s decision not to charge retail takers.

13:00 How Lighter approaches retail execution and compares with other perpetual venues.

14:50 Trevor discusses the shift from crypto toward commodities and equities, now a meaningful share of Lighter’s volume.

17:02 How the Robinhood integration works, what drives activity, and the role of real-world assets.

19:58 Trevor explains the 50/50 Robinhood revenue split and how Lighter’s share funds token buybacks.

22:10 How Lighter could connect liquidity and market makers across multiple instances.

23:33 Why the team is building from the U.S., engaging regulators, and working within licensing frameworks.

27:40 Why Trevor sees room for both platforms to grow while Lighter focuses on U.S. expansion.

28:44 Revenue, market share, distribution, and monetization—and why the goal is a profitable business.

30:53 The team’s “white glove” approach to fintechs, wallets, exchanges, and institutions instead of simply providing an SDK.

34:46 Trevor discusses new markets and how the Lighter EVM could let builders access liquidity and experiment with applications.

37:07 How Lighter directs fees toward LIT buybacks, the scale discussed, and how the approach could evolve.

39:56 Token allocation, Robinhood incentives, investor holdings, and the January unlock schedule.

43:22 Why Lighter says value generated by its products should accrue to the token despite an equity entity.

45:01 Why Lighter operates like a traditional business rather than a DAO, and why Trevor sees execution as its biggest risk.

47:01 Why Lighter is focused on reaching the next millions of perpetual-futures users, not just today’s traders.

Links:

The Medici Network: https://www.medici.network/

Podcast Site: https://levelup.medici.network/

Lighter: https://lighter.xyz/

Interested in being a Guest? Connect with Elmira on X: https://x.com/elmira_yilham

Co-Hosts

David Grider, Finality Capital - https://x.com/David_Grid

Sean Farrell, Fundstrat Global Advisors - https://x.com/SeanMFarrell

Guest

Trevor King, Lighter

X - https://x.com/trevor_flipper

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevor-king-a85534185/

Production and editing by The Podcast Consultant - https://thepodcastconsultant.com/