Lighter has launched the Lighter EVM, which plans to introduce Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) support, enabling developers to deploy general-purpose smart contracts directly on its platform. Initially positioned as a high-performance trading engine, Lighter is transforming itself into a more comprehensive blockchain and DeFi platform with this upgrade. The Lighter EVM will support running DeFi applications such as Uniswap and Aave on the platform, enabling deep integration of trading, lending, and shared liquidity pools, improving overall efficiency and reducing the risks of incentive-driven "mining." Lighter also stated that it is researching methods to further reduce latency and even exploring "synchronous execution" models to support more complex DeFi use cases.