Opyn

Opyn is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built on Ethereum that specializes in creating and trading options for digital assets. The company was founded in 2019 by Aparna Krishnan, Zubin Singh Koticha, and Alexis Gauba, who met while working at Blockchain at Berkeley. Their shared background in blockchain research and development led them to identify the need for risk hedging mechanisms in the volatile cryptocurrency market.

The protocol enables users to buy, sell, and create options on any ERC20 token. These options, called oTokens, are themselves ERC-20 tokens, allowing them to be traded on decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Opyn's platform is designed for capital efficiency, allowing users to trade complex strategies like spreads and combinations by using long positions to collateralize short positions. Key features include the auto-exercise of in-the-money options at expiry and the ability for anyone to create new option series for whitelisted products. The business model primarily targets developers, institutional traders, and other DeFi protocols that use Opyn as a foundational layer to build structured products and hedge risk, rather than individual retail traders.

In June 2020, Opyn raised a $2.16 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital. This was followed by a $6.7 million Series A round in February 2021, led by Paradigm, with participation from notable investors like Dragonfly Capital, Kain Warwick, and Stani Kulechov. A significant product development was the launch of Squeeth in early 2022, a perpetual derivative that tracks the square of Ethereum's price, offering traders a leveraged position without expiry dates or the risk of liquidation typically associated with such trades. In November 2023, co-founders Zubin Koticha and Alexis Gauba announced their departure from the crypto industry following regulatory actions from the CFTC, with Andrew J. Keone taking over as CEO. In July 2025, Coinbase acquired Opyn's leadership team in a talent-only deal to expand its on-chain derivatives offerings.

Keywords: DeFi options, decentralized derivatives, options protocol, Ethereum options, ERC20 options, Squeeth, risk management, crypto hedging, capital efficiency, on-chain options, Gamma Protocol, oTokens, power perpetuals, Zubin Koticha, Aparna Krishnan, Alexis Gauba, Paradigm, Dragonfly Capital, crypto derivatives, blockchain finance