Visions of Agents Trading Options - Nick Forster

Why are crypto options still so underdeveloped? In this episode of Deeply Intents, I chat with Nick Foster, Co-founder of Derive (fka Lyra). We start by unpacking why options are worth pursuing in crypto and what drove Variant's recent investment in Derive. From there, we dig into Derive's institutional focus, how they think about the competitive options landscape, and what "10/10" means for the protocol. We also speed through Derive's portfolio margin and liquidation systems, plus how their tech stack shapes product decisions. We wrap up with the story behind the rebrand from Lyra to Derive and Nick's learnings from building through multiple market cycles. Timestamps (00:00) - Options are the most programmable financial primitive (01:56) - Variant investment in Derive (04:14) - The institutional focus (09:10) - Having conversations with institutions (10:20) - All of these ingredients fall into place (12:53) - The competitive landscape (14:41) - 10/10 & ADLs (17:20) - How Portfolio Margin works (19:09) - Liquidation system innovation (21:57) - The Security Module (25:07) - Derive Chain (26:28) - Build a great product (36:16) - Rebrand from Lyra to Derive (40:55) - Synthetix's attempt to acquire derive (46:43) - Learnings whilst building (47:54) - Think carefully about incentives (50:08) - Having a proactive mindset (52:27) - Using AI to build (54:44) - Encouraging side projects (56:30) - Visions of agents trading options DisclaimerNothing in this episode should be interpreted as financial, technical, or legal advice. The host does contract work for Heliax, a public goods laboratory, focusing on Anoma.