Lighter launches BTC and ETH binary options on Core

Lighter, the Ethereum zk-rollup exchange known for perpetual futures, has launched binary options on Bitcoin and Ether on its Lighter Core platform, The Defiant reported on October 19.The Up/Down contracts let traders take a view on whether BTC or ETH will rise or fall over 15-minute price windows, settled using Chainlink price data. Each winning share pays 1 USDC.Positions must be fully funded in USDC, meaning the product carries no leverage and no liquidations. A trader's maximum loss is the price paid for the shares.The launch follows an "Options season. Coming soon" teaser Lighter posted on October 16. Founder and CEO Vladimir Novakovski has said the exchange is focusing on options this quarter, starting with binary options and moving next to onchain European options that would share the same balance sheet as its perpetual contracts, ChainCatcher reported .Novakovski said the combined setup would let users trade spot, options and perpetuals on a single platform, supporting strategies such as basis trading and delta hedging.Fully funded contracts that resolve to a fixed payout bring Lighter closer to prediction market designs such as Polymarket, where share prices reflect the market's implied probability of an outcome. Lighter's initial markets cover only short-term price direction for two assets.Lighter operates as an application-specific zk-rollup that publishes proofs of order matching to Ethereum. The company has said it is seeking a license from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.