Lighter CEO Vlad Novakovski used Korea Blockchain Week 2026 to argue that decentralized finance, or DeFi (blockchain-based financial services), has a major opportunity in fixed-income markets. The exchange launched a US10Y perpetual contract in August 2026, referencing the 10-year US Treasury and offering leverage of up to 20x. Lighter operates as a decentralized exchange for perpetual futures, or perps (derivatives without expiry dates), on a custom zero-knowledge rollup, or ZK-rollup (a scaling network that verifies off-chain transactions on Ethereum). Its central limit order book matches buyers and sellers, and the platform lists more than 190 markets across crypto, equities and commodities. Crypto markets can offer up to 50x leverage, while real-world asset markets are capped at 20x. Launched in 2025, Lighter reports daily volumes of approximately $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion and raised $68 million at an approximately $1.5 billion valuation in November 2025, with Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital among major backers. Its zero-fee model has also attracted retail traders. The US10Y product gives users a way to trade views on U.S. interest rates through a decentralized venue, with oracle services supplying external benchmark data to smart contracts. The initiative reflects discussions at KBW2026, held from September 29 to October 1, 2026, about the convergence of blockchain and traditional finance. Its success will depend in part on whether meaningful volume shifts into rates products rather than remaining concentrated in crypto pairs.