Esoteric
DeFi Options & Structured Vaults
On-chain calls and puts, and the vaults that auto-sell them for yield — convexity as a composable primitive.
TradFi →Listed options & structured products desk
Prerequisites
01 · Concept — what problem does it solve?
Options give asymmetric, non-linear payoffs — the right but not the obligation to buy (call) or sell (put) at a strike. On-chain they are harder than : pricing needs volatility, and liquidity is thin. The breakout product wasn't trading options directly but DeFi Option Vaults (DOVs) — deposit an asset, the vault systematically sells covered calls or cash-secured puts and pays you the premium. Structured, automated convexity for passive depositors.
02 · Mechanics
- Calls & puts: a call profits as price rises above strike; a put as it falls below. Buyers pay a premium for the optionality; sellers collect it and take the tail risk.
- Covered-call vault: holds the asset, sells out-of-the-money calls weekly, distributes premium. You earn yield but cap your upside.
- Pricing needs vol: option value depends on implied volatility (Black–Scholes intuition); on-chain oracles for IV are immature, so most venues auction options rather than quote a continuous surface.
- options (Lyra): price options off a pooled AMM with automated delta/vega hedging so LPs aren't naked short volatility.
- ≈ short option: providing AMM liquidity already is a short-volatility, short-gamma position — see Impermanent Loss. Options make that exposure explicit and tradable.
03 · Formulas
// payoffs at expiry (strike K)
call_buyer = max(spot − K, 0) − premium
put_buyer = max(K − spot, 0) − premium
// covered-call vault yield
yield ≈ Σ premiums_collected (upside above K is forgone)
// value depends on implied volatility
option_value = f(spot, K, time, rate, σ) // σ = implied vol
04 · Edge cases & risks
- Capped upside, full downside — covered-call vaults underperform badly in a sharp rally (calls get assigned) while still eating the drawdown if price falls.
- Pin & expiry games — when large sits near a strike, price can gravitate ("pin") to it as hedgers rebalance into expiry.
- Thin liquidity, wide spreads — on-chain options markets are shallow; realized execution often diverges from the theoretical fair value.
- Vol is the hidden variable — selling options is selling insurance; a single volatility spike can erase months of collected premium.
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