DeFi Hedging Startup Opyn Raises $2.16M From Dragonfly Capital, 1kx

A hedging instrument for decentralized finance (DeFi) has closed a $2.16 million funding spherical, led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from 1kx, DTC Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures and A.Capital.

The funding is for Opyn, which gives crypto-based derivatives, starting with the oToken, which is a permissionless hedging instrument. The corporate experiences $36 million in buying and selling quantity since launch. Others within the funding spherical embrace angel traders Balaji Srinivasan, previously of Coinbase; Robert Leshner, founding father of Compound; and Linda Xie, additionally a Coinbase alum who co-founded Scalar Capital.

Crypto getting down with the chance administration enterprise sounds just like the demise knell of the punk-rock period of the business. However, as tasks like Opyn grow to be extra strong, they are going to create methods for thesis-driven traders to earn a living by way of contrarian positions, and that could possibly be very punk rock.  

With the surge in demand for the COMP token, many customers might have funds that might usually be in money somewhat than crypto proper now, which might really feel dangerous for customers. The power to insure their USDC deposits on Compound would possibly now be unusually engaging.  

Opyn gives oTokens, that are mainly insurance coverage insurance policies, however with out insurance coverage adjusters. So right here’s how a person would insure their USDC utilizing the product. An oToken would permit them, for a small charge, to get better many of the funding’s worth in the event that they turned within the underlying token.

So a person might insure $100 in USDC for $95. The person might unlock the $95 in collateral on their oUSDC token however they must flip in 100 USDC to do it. They’ll do that at any time with none form of verify or verification.  

“Opyn is beginning a brand new chapter in DeFi by unlocking choices and providing a brand new and highly effective monetary primitive that brings stability to a historically-volatile market,” Tom Schmidt of Dragonfly Capital Companions mentioned in a press launch. 

The corporate is working now on v2 of its platform, which can embrace many new sorts of choices. 

“This launch will embrace margining for capital effectivity, allow choices spreads and mixtures positions, and create the infrastructure so as to add governance down the road,” co-founder Alexis Gauba instructed CoinDesk. The replace needs to be launched later this yr.