Lit Protocol (LITKEY) What is the project? A key management infrastructure led by 1kx

In the world of cryptocurrencies, private key management is a challenge that every user cannot avoid. According to the 2023 breach of Atomic Wallet, which resulted in over $100 million in asset losses, the risks of centralized private key storage are fully exposed.

Lit Protocol, as a decentralized key management network, combines threshold secret sharing and trusted execution environments (TEE) to address this industry pain point.

As of November 3, 2025, the real-time price of LITKEY is $0.084692, with a current market capitalization of approximately $18.7 million and a circulating supply of about 220 million tokens.

01 Project Overview: Decoding Lit Protocol and LITKEY Token

Lit Protocol is a decentralized key management network that provides programmable signatures, encryption, and access control capabilities for Web3 applications.

By integrating multi-party secure computation (MPC) and trusted execution environment (TEE) technologies, Lit Protocol achieves top-tier private key security custody without relying on centralized custodians.

This protocol enables developers to build secure, decentralized applications that seamlessly manage encryption assets, private data, and user permissions.

LITKEY Token Core Functions

LITKEY is the native token of Lit Protocol, playing multiple roles within the ecosystem:

• Payment for network services: users pay with LITKEY for signature, encryption, and decryption services
• Incentivizing node operators: network participants earn LITKEY rewards by providing services
• Participating in protocol governance: token holders have voting rights on the protocol’s future development

Token Economics Model

The total supply of LITKEY is 1 billion tokens, with 4.8% allocated to ecosystem airdrops. Tokens for investors and the team are subject to a one-year lock-up period and are linearly unlocked over four years.

This token distribution model ensures early supporters’ interests are protected while supporting the project’s long-term growth.

02 Core Technology: The Secure Architecture of MPC + TEE

Lit Protocol’s core technological advantage lies in its highly decentralized and risk-resistant architecture.

Hybrid Architecture

By combining MPC and TEE, Lit Protocol creates a multi-layered protective architecture.

In MPC (multi-party secure computation), the complete private key is never exposed on any node, while TEE (trusted execution environment) provides hardware-level isolation.

This hybrid architecture ensures that even if some nodes are attacked, the overall network remains stable and secure.

Programmable Key Pairs

Lit Protocol introduces Lit programmable key pairs, where each PKP (Public Key Pair) is a personal cloud wallet platform managed by a decentralized network.

Developers can use PKPs to create decentralized applications, automatically sign transactions, and selectively read/write encrypted data to decentralized cloud storage.

03 Use Cases: Cross-Chain Automation and Privacy Collaboration

The technical architecture of Lit Protocol supports various cutting-edge applications, making it more than just a key management tool.

Cross-Chain Operations and Automation

Through Lit Actions, developers can embed complex logic into key operations, enabling automated signing, decryption, and cross-chain transaction processing at the smart contract level.

This capability provides essential infrastructure for DeFi, cross-chain operations, AI-driven intelligent agents, and more.

Secure Privacy Collaboration

Lit Protocol’s decryption condition control features enable enterprises to securely collaborate on data without exposing raw data.

This feature is especially valuable in AI training and data analysis scenarios, making multi-party data utilization possible while protecting privacy.

Digital Identity and Access Control

Lit Protocol is becoming the infrastructure for decentralized identification. By September 2025, its products have provided key management and access control services for projects such as Alchemy, Lens Protocol, DataverseOS, and Humanity Protocol.

04 Funding and Development History

Throughout its development, Lit Protocol has received support from several top investment institutions.

Funding Overview

In January 2022, Lit Protocol completed a seed round of $2.2 million led by Sfermion and Collab+Currency, with participation from Shima Capital, CMT Digital, and others.

In September 2022, the project completed a Series A funding round of $13 million led by 1kx, with investors including OpenSea Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, Stani Kulechov (founder of AAVE), and Raj Gokal (co-founder of Solana).

As a top-tier fund, 1kx focuses long-term on decentralized identity and Web3 infrastructure investments, providing strong endorsement for Lit’s technological approach.

Recent Developments

In March 2025, Lit Protocol completed a token public sale on the Legion platform, raising $1.5 million, further expanding community participation and token distribution channels.

On November 2, 2025, Binance Alpha launched LITKEY, where users holding at least 235 Alpha points could claim an airdrop of 250 LITKEY tokens.

05 Market Performance and Data Analysis

As of November 3, 2025, the market data for LITKEY provides an intuitive understanding of the project’s current status:

• Real-time price: $0.084692
• 24-hour price change: -35.19%
• All-time high: $0.213858
• 24-hour trading volume: $8.16 million
• Market capitalization: $18.7 million

Despite experiencing a significant pullback in the past 24 hours, LITKEY has still risen by 67.40% over the past 7 days.

This market performance reflects the typical volatility of the crypto market while also indicating ongoing investor interest in the project.

06 Competitive Analysis and Future Outlook

In the field of key management, Lit Protocol differs significantly from projects like Safeheron and Fireblocks in its architecture.

Competitive Advantages

Lit Protocol has built a fully decentralized network architecture, with each node independently participating in secret key sharing and computation.

In contrast, Safeheron’s self-hosted nodes may still have centralized dependencies, and Fireblocks relies entirely on centralized custody, posing single point of failure risks.

Lit’s design ensures that even if some nodes fail or are attacked, the overall network remains stable and secure.

Future Prospects

Lit Protocol plans to introduce proxy applications, new signature algorithms, and optimized payment modes on the Naga mainnet to enhance performance and scalability.

As Web3 applications continue to grow, the demand for secure, decentralized key management will increase, positioning Lit Protocol favorably in the market.

Future Outlook

Through its fully decentralized network architecture, Lit Protocol has achieved industry-leading levels of security, flexibility, and innovation. As the digital asset space evolves, secure and programmable key management solutions will become increasingly vital.

LITKEY is more than just a token—it represents the future infrastructure for encrypted security management, paving the way toward true digital sovereignty and cross-chain interoperability.