Lighter Token Distribution Sparks Controversy, Zama Launches USDT Private Transfers, What is the Overseas Crypto Community Talking About Today?
Publication Date: December 31, 2025
Author: BlockBeats Editorial Team
Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market has shown a parallel evolution at multiple levels. Mainstream discussions have focused on the long-term incentives and sustainability issues exposed by Token Distribution and Revenue Quality, with much controversy surrounding Lighter's distribution structure, Perp DEX revenue decline, and the US corporate compliance issuance path. In terms of ecosystem development, Ethereum has engaged in an annual reflection surrounding infrastructure positioning and power balance, the privacy track has seen a milestone breakthrough following the landing of fully homomorphic encryption stablecoins, and the Payment Layer Chain and AI × Crypto narrative have begun to lay the groundwork for the expected execution and validation phase in 2026.
I. Mainstream Topics
Lighter Token Distribution Sparks Controversy
The Lighter project launched the $LIT token and completed its initial mainstream CEX spot listing on Coinbase. According to official disclosures, 50% of the total token supply is allocated to the ecosystem: 25% of which was immediately airdropped to 2025 season participants, while the remaining 25% will be used for future season points, partner incentives, and growth plans; the other 50% is allocated to the team (26%) and investors (24%), corresponding to a 1-year cliff + 3-year linear unlock ownership arrangement.
The project emphasizes that the value generated by the protocol will accrue to $LIT holders and mentions the possibility of future buybacks, but has not disclosed specific execution paths and timelines. This distribution structure has sparked significant controversy in the community, with many considering it a typical VC-led model and contrasting it with projects that are more community-oriented in distribution (such as Hyperliquid).
The overall community response has been somewhat negative. Some users openly stated that the 50% team/investor ratio is too high, expressing concerns about future unlock-related selling pressure and price volatility. There were also sarcastic remarks about Coinbase's listing choice, drawing comparisons between Lighter and Hyperliquid's airdrop structures. The latter still has 42.888% allocated for future airdrops, while Lighter's proportion reserved for all future airdrops is only 25%.
At the same time, there were a few viewpoints defending the team and investors, arguing that they took on early risks and should receive a proportionate return, likening it to the "long-term holding logic of traditional capital."
Plasma Releases December Progress Report
The Plasma project has released its December 2025 update report, reviewing the progress made throughout the year and looking ahead to the next phase of development. The report defined 2025 as a key inflection point: Plasma expanded from scratch to a scale of billions while laying the foundation for regulatory and technical aspects of Plasma One. Its core narrative still revolves around one phrase, "Stablecoins should feel like money."
The report expressed high expectations for 2026, stating that the main task at the current stage has shifted from "building theory" to "execution and scalable implementation." While specific technical and metric details are limited, the overall emphasis was on transitioning from concept validation to a real payment network.
The community discussion overall leans positive. Supporters liken the current stage of Plasma to the early development path of early perp chains, believing that 2026 is expected to be a key year for a payment-focused chain to validate its own value. Some views point out that the market is gradually moving away from the "single L1 valuation narrative," with Plasma being seen as one of the few platforms that explicitly emphasizes value accrual and a payment application loop. The overall sentiment is mainly optimistic, with no apparent negative feedback yet.
Zama Privacy Stablecoin Officially Launched
The Zama protocol officially launched on the mainnet and completed the on-chain transfer of the first privacy stablecoin cUSDT on Ethereum. This solution is based on Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), allowing direct computation on encrypted data, thereby achieving complete concealment of transaction amounts and account balances without the need to restructure existing blockchain architecture.
It was disclosed that the cost of a single transfer is approximately $0.13, seen as an important milestone for FHE technology transitioning from theory to production. Meanwhile, the claiming of Zama OG NFTs will also open in a few days, further solidifying its milestone significance as a privacy infrastructure.
The community response is highly positive. Many describe it as the "realization of cryptographic ideals" and see it as a significant breakthrough in on-chain privacy. Discussions focus on low cost, availability, and the potential transformation of the DeFi experience—making asset transfers closer to "cash-like privacy" rather than a completely transparent ledger. A small amount of discussion involves fee structures or comparisons with other privacy protocols, but the overall tone is optimistic, with some users already seeing it as a crucial starting point for the 2026 privacy narrative.
II. Mainstream Ecosystem Updates
1. Ethereum
Consensys released the "2025 Ethereum Year in Review," looking back at key milestones for itself and the Ethereum ecosystem over the past year. Key highlights included: Ethereum's uninterrupted operation for ten consecutive years, transitioning from early experiments to global-scale infrastructure; the simultaneous influx of institutions and individual users; the gradual shift to self-custody entering the mainstream; and substantial progress in the usability and cost of Layer 2 scaling. The report positioned 2025 as a "year of foundational solidification," emphasizing a methodology centered around patience, public goods investment, and the builder community to lay the groundwork for further expansion in 2026.
Community reaction is showing differentiation. On one hand, supporters emphasize Ethereum's "Decade of Uninterrupted Operation" record and its positioning as "Global Digital Public Infrastructure," considering 2025 more like a "year of consolidation"; on the other hand, negative feedback focuses on Linea-related issues, with some voices accusing its token of unclear communication with the ecosystem and questioning its market performance.
Almost simultaneously, Vitalik Buterin published a new article titled "Balance of Power," discussing from a more macro perspective how to maintain diversity and power balance in the context of sustained economies of scale. The article distinguishes between "power over" and "power to," advocating that true balance is not merely wealth redistribution but rather limiting power concentration through mandatory decentralized control structures. Ethereum is seen as a "deliberately not an empire" infrastructure design, with its open protocol, adversarial interoperability, and pluralism seen as a long-term survival mechanism against risks in a scaled world.
In contrast, Vitalik's article sparked deeper discussions. Most responses agree with his analysis of power structures and decentralized control, seeing it as the "core logic of Ethereum's existence" and a key issue in facing the risks of scalability and monopolies in the 21st century. A small amount of discussion extended the article's content to project or token promotion, mixed with some meme-like expressions, but the overall sentiment still leans towards recognition of Ethereum's long-term sustainability.
2. Perp DEX
Lighter's Revenue Decline Outpacing Trading Volume Decline
Community data shows that its annualized revenue decreased from a November peak of around $377 million to about $66.5 million, a decrease of approximately 82.5%, while the trading volume only dropped by about 60% during the same period, a magnitude roughly in line with the declines seen on platforms like Hyperliquid and Aster. Some analyses suggest that the difference may stem from previous "farming behaviors" (such as paid account participation in airdrops) and reduced arbitrage opportunities, causing nominal revenue to drop faster than trading activity.
Regarding Lighter's revenue decline, the community sentiment overall tends towards neutrality to caution. Some viewpoints believe that the previous metrics were amplified by airdrop incentives, and now with a decrease in real payment demand, it may put pressure on the stability of $LIT's valuation; others argue that short-term revenue fluctuations do not directly equate to token value and that longer periods are needed for validation. The overall discussion focuses on payment structures and long-term sustainability.
Lighter registered U.S. company issuing tokens directly, without adopting the traditional foundation model
Another unique aspect of Lighter is its organizational structure: the project directly issued $LIT in the form of a U.S. C-Corp, operating outside of the traditional foundation model and seen as one of the few cases of coin issuance within the U.S. legal framework, similar to Ripple / XRP. It currently has a market capitalization of around $700 million, corresponding to an annualized revenue of about $105 million.
The narrative of "U.S. company issuing coins" has been interpreted by some as a bullish signal, emphasizing regulatory alignment and legal clarity, and prompting comparisons of market potential with XRP. However, there are also voices of doubt pointing out that mere compliance status is not enough to support a high valuation.
The Extended roadmap indicates that the platform will collaborate with one of the world's largest exchanges to conduct extensive stock issuance
Meanwhile, the Extended platform has released its 2026 roadmap, reviewing the process from closed Beta to a 100-300x increase in TVL, user count, trading volume, and fees in 2025, and planning:
Q1: Launching cross-asset collateralization and stock perpetual contracts (in collaboration with a major exchange);
Q2: Introducing the spot market and a mobile app;
Q3–Q4: Expanding to non-crypto-native users and introducing a decentralized operational model.
In comparison, the Extended roadmap has received significantly more positive feedback. The community expresses expectations for its execution pace, product expansion, and cross-asset trials, with some users considering it a candidate with the potential for a "top Perp DEX." The overall sentiment is optimistic, with the focus on the further expanded growth space in 2026.
3. Crypto × AI: Return of the Old Narrative or a New Round of Validation?
Several signals indicate that the intersection narrative of Crypto and AI may see a new active period in Q1 of 2026. Mentioned catalysts by the community include: the return of elizaOS and shawmakesmagic; a revival of discussions on open-source autonomous agents; historical high usage data of the x402 protocol; the mainnet launch of ERC-8004; the market performance post Bittensor halving; and the ongoing advancement of the Virtuals protocol in ACP and robotics technology.
These elements collectively evoke the collective memory of the "AI Agent Season" in 2024, seen by some as a prelude to a new cycle of innovation.
The overall community sentiment is leaning towards excitement, with supporters describing this round of changes as a "probability-level advancement," believing that infrastructure such as x402 is beginning to show real traction and are optimistic about the potential of combining AI with prediction markets and automated trading. At the same time, there are more pointed skeptical voices, suggesting that this may just be an "early developer relaunch narrative" after fund consumption, and cautioning against the issue of under-delivered technology. The counterargument to this is: AI has not exited but is continuously being built in the background, and the key to the next stage is whether a real, sustainable revenue model can be established (such as a financial-type agent).
Overall, the discussion progresses in parallel between anticipation and caution. Despite being mixed with promotion and emotional judgment, the mainstream consensus tends to be that the market will focus more on actual implementation and business validation rather than mere narrative replication.
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