Zubin Koticha: Opyn – The Insurance Platform Which Protects Your DeFi Deposits

Opyn is a smart contract-based insurance platform built on a generalized (supports both put and call) options protocol called Convexity. It is intended as a platform to protect DeFi users against both technical and financial risks, and a place where ETH holders can earn substantial premiums on their holdings by providing insurance.

Opyn uses tokenized ERC20 put options, oTokens, on ETH to allow option buyers to keep their upside while limiting their downside. If you buy Opyn protection, you are buying “the right but not the obligation to sell an asset at a pre-specified price”. Currently, you can buy insurance for DAI, ETH, and USDC deposits on Compound and it is completely noncustodial and trustless.

Zubin Koticha, CEO & Co-founder of Opyn, is currently working on V2 of the platform with his team. Their focus for improvements are in 3 main areas; cash efficiency, trading mechanism, and network effects. They are hoping to release this within the next 6 months.

This is a much-needed generalizable insurance solution against some attacks/ vulnerabilities within the DeFi ecosystem and it will be very interesting to see how their contribution to DeFi progresses.

Topics covered in this episode:

Zubin’s background and how he got into cryptoHow Opyn was created and the roles within the companyThe evolution of the Opyn productUsing options as an insurance solutionThe difference between traditional markets and OpynAmerican vs European optionsImprovements they are making in V2 - capital efficiency, fungibility, network effectsThe collateral as a different asset featureTrading venueAn overview of VegaSwapTimelines for the new version

Episode links:

Opyn WebsiteOpyn WhitepaperWhat is Opyn?Opyn DiscordOpyn TwitterZubin Koticha Twitter

This episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst & Sunny Aggarwal. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/344