Nick Forster | Derive

cofounder and CEO @DeriveXYZ

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

The vision for Derive - which a lot of people get wrong - is not just onchain Deribit.

We’re building the infinite payoff factory: any payoff, on any asset, 24/7.

Tailored yield generation, hedging, and speculation at institutional scale that can wrap around any high quality asset, be repackaged, and distributed wherever it’s needed across the Internet Financial System.

We’ve positioned Derive intentionally. Options venues take years of expertise, liquidity building, and grinding BD to reach competitive depth. That work is all coming together now.

Teams can integrate with Derive, add their own layer on top, and deliver differentiated financial products to their users, without spending years doing the most difficult parts.

This is why 20+ teams are already building on Derive. As more high quality assets come onchain at scale, we are readying our infrastructure for a world where that number to grow into the thousands.

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

@CloutedMind @litocoen @0xfluflu can we get clouted some merch plz

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

Great to sit down with @cryptomanran at token last week

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

v3 is Josh's baby - he is a masterful engineer and executor, and has worked so hard to deliver a protocol and architecture that will power Derive's next chapter.

It's a privilege to work with him. He has the rare ability of explaining deeply technical concepts in simple language, and is criminally underfollowed.

Highly recommend watching him lay out the full v3 thesis here.

[Derive.xyz @DeriveXYZ]

A closer look at our thinking behind V3.

Our CTO @josh_pwrk sat down with @Nomaticcap to talk through how we got here, why we chose Ethereum and ZK, and where we think onchain finance is headed.

We've spent five years building onchain options and learning from the traders who use them. Josh shares the lessons behind V3 and why we want to make it easier for others to build alongside us.

Watch the full conversation below.

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

Believe it or not this was my first ever time hosting an event for Derive. Better late than never. What a privilege it was to spend the night with insanely talented builders, anons, partners, and friends. The energy, creativity and talent coalescing around onchain options is unlike anything I’ve felt so far in our history. Headwinds have flipped to tailwinds, and the Derive community is ready to take full advantage. Thank you to everyone who came out and to the team at STS for being wonderful cohosts, we have so much more to come.

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

@D2_Finance @dcfgod @variantfund @DeriveXYZ let's go

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

The Derive engineering team went through the wringer over the last few weeks (and really the last 8 months) to pull this off without a hitch. They are truly world class.

V3 is the infinite payoff factory, and I couldn’t be more excited that it’s live.

[Derive.xyz @DeriveXYZ]

Migration complete. Derive is running on its new V3 architecture.

Market makers and traders are reconnecting as liquidity builds back up. Withdrawals for some assets may take up to a week to resume.

We'll share more about V3 in the coming days, including a closer look at the new architecture and what’s next for users and builders.

[Heat @heat_fi]

We've spoken to dozens of traders.

Gathered feedback from noobs, options-curious DeFi users, and the biggest @DeriveXYZ traders.

Your feedback and hours of iteration have shaped Heat v2’s updated UI.

Sneak peek ↓

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

Poetic that v2 managed to cross $40B in lifetime volume in the week before v3.

We launched it all the way back in December 2023, which feels like a lifetime ago in so many ways (v2 predates even the restaking mania bullrun of 2024, RIP Blast).

It has taken multiple crypto cycles for onchain options to break out, but in so many ways this growth over the last couple of months is right on time.

Uniswap in 2020 ~7 years after crypto spot trading started gaining broader traction. Onchain perps broke out via DyDx and then Hyperliquid in 2023/24 ~7 years after Bitmex, and now onchain options are starting to break out in 2026, ~7 years after Deribit hit growth.

Options are the last vertical to mature onchain, and I think there is a strong case that they will be the biggest. Will save that post for another day.

[Derive.xyz @DeriveXYZ]

Exciting weekend flows: $450M+ notional in 24 hours.

92.4% of all onchain options premium volume.

Open interest back above $4.58B.

Cumulative volume crossed $40B all time. 🏆

V3 is coming, migration 6 OCT📝

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

Gm 🇰🇷

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

@dotiryaki @derivativemonky yup

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

- ATHs in options volumes
- 8x YoY volume growth
- 5x YoY fees growth
- ~90% onchain options market share

Incredible to see people discover Derive v2 after nearly 3 years in production. But v3 is near, and it is lightyears better than v2.

We have taken all of the learnings of 5.5 years operating at the bleeding edge of internet finance and poured it into v3. It incorporates everything we’ve learned from traders, market makers, builders, and the markets themselves. I can't wait to show you what we've built.

In the meantime, please keep the feedback coming (traders, builders and MMs) - we aren't perfect but we will work hard to address issues as quickly as we can.

Grateful to all those who have believed in us to this point, we have much more to prove.

[Derive.xyz @DeriveXYZ]

Calling all builders 🔨

Your frontend, your users, Derive's options liquidity underneath.

Build or integrate the next great options product → https://t.co/Wd2Z97kznZ

Here's what V3 means in practice ↓

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

@Akhileyyy @DeriveXYZ Oh yes

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

big opportunity to build options on @DeriveXYZ

[jesse.base.eth @jessepollak]

big opportunity to build options on @base

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

You can express almost any market view with options, and this is an extremely cool product built from that insight. Congrats on the launch @Charlie85270R!

[Charlie @Charlie85270R]

With the recent surge of @DeriveXYZ I think it's a good moment to release the first beta version of https://t.co/WQVaqfxfUm🎉

Options are still very complicated to understand and trade, Tacticalls aims to simplify this.

A social app on top of the $DERIVE infrastructure.

A kind of fomo but for options.

More details 🧵 👇

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

A massive trade of 18,140x ETH 2850/3000/3100 butterflies just hit the tape on Derive, expiring this Friday Sep 24

Pays ~$270k usd in premiums to win $2.43m (!!) if $ETH pins $3,000 on Friday's expiry.

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

Wish I'd written this. v3 brings Derive's nearly 6 year old thesis to life:

- Blockchains are the ultimate rail for finance (24/7, programmable, open)
- Options are the ultimate money lego for blockchains (building blocks for any payoff, tailorable, the most programmable derivative)

The infinite payoff factory

[Tindorr 🌯 @0xTindorr]

The most interesting part of @DeriveXYZ V3 has very little to do with people trading directly on Derive.

It’s about distribution.

Hyperliquid already showed what can happen when an exchange becomes infrastructure for other apps:

• Wallets like Phantom and Rabby own the frontend and the user relationship.
• Hyperliquid provides the trading infrastructure.
• The apps get paid for bringing the flow.

And I think this is one of the more interesting ways to think about Derive V3.

Derive doesn’t necessarily need every future options trader to become a direct Derive user either. It can become the options engine running underneath other products.

Derive already has Builder Codes, so apps can route trades through Derive and monetize the activity they generate.

V3 then makes that integration layer much more powerful by exposing the infrastructure builders need to create their own options products and UX.

Imagine a wallet showing: “Protect my ETH from falling below $3,000.” The user doesn’t need to know they’re buying a put.

Or a yield app showing: “Earn yield while being willing to sell ETH at $6,000.”

Underneath, it can package an options strategy.

This matters because options have a huge UX problem. Strikes, expiries, implied volatility, Greeks, strategy combinations.

Most users don’t want to learn all of that. But maybe the answer isn’t teaching everyone how to use an options chain, it’s hiding the options chain completely.

Let builders turn complex options positions into simple products users already understand:
• Protection
• Yield
• Directional bets
• Structured payoffs

And let Derive handle the liquidity, execution and risk engine underneath.

Hyperliquid proved the builder distribution model can work for perps. Derive now has a chance to test what that same model looks like for onchain options.

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

@Bitcoin75546129 Dmed you

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

$ZEC options charts looking like early hyperliquid:native on Derive

At the money implied vol for Oct 30th is at 110%, roughly implying avg daily move of 5.5% til then

Skew-wise the 20d calls are trading over, meaning traders expect more volatility to the upside.

We've seen some ZEC options traders in the last couple days buy puts and sell calls (risk reversal) to take advantage of the cheaper puts relative to calls for insurance in case of a dip.

[Nick Forster | Derive @nickforster]

@bas3dp0tat6 Love a Zcash distribution trade, hedge the delta if you want to be a real sicko