Coinbase acquires Opyn’s leadership team in bid to expand onchain derivatives

Coinbase has hired the core leadership team behind decentralized options trading protocol Opyn as the largest crypto exchange looks to expand its derivatives business line. The strategic talent acquisition, which includes bringing on CEO Andrew Leone and head of research Joe Clark, reportedly will not incorporate Opyn’s protocol offerings.

“The Opyn team has been building in DeFi since the early days; they were the first DeFi options protocol, the inventors of Power Perpetuals, and the team behind Squeeth,” Coinbase VP of Engineering at Coinbase Markets Harsha Bhat wrote in a statement. “The team brings a rare combination of deep onchain technical expertise, strong understanding of traditional market structure, and hands-on experience building decentralized products from the ground up.”

Bhat said that the acquisition will help Coinbase accelerate its efforts “to bring more of our exchange business onchain.” He cited Coinbase’s Verified Pools feature, an onchain liquidity system built on the Base Layer 2 network that offers compliant trading functionality.

Launched in alpha in 2019, Opyn’s core product is a decentralized derivatives market where users can trade calls and puts using Opyn’s oToken option tokens and its so-called “power perpetuals,” high-leverage tokenized contracts that derive value from the exponential power of the underlying asset. This includes its popular product Squared ETH, also known as Squeeth, which allows users to gain exposure to ETH².

In 2023, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed and settled charges against Opyn, along with two other DeFi protocols, for allegedly offering derivatives trading without authorization. The team was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine, and co-founders Zubin Koticha and Alexis Gauba announced they were stepping down.

Leone previously served as Opyn’s head of research following a six-year stint as a vice president at the Japanese bank Nomura, where he headed up VIX and structured volatility trading, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Opyn has raised at least $10.9 million in funding across two rounds, including a $2.16 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital and a $6.7 million Series A round in 2021, led by Paradigm with participation from Dragonfly Capital, Synthetix founder Kain Warwick, Aave founder Stani Kulechov, and others.