Derive

Derive is a decentralized protocol built for traders who want to use options, perpetuals, and structured financial products without relying on a centralized intermediary. It runs on Derive Chain, its own Ethereum rollup, and aims to make complex derivatives trading accessible through programmable, on-chain smart contracts. The protocol targets both professional and technically sophisticated traders who want permissionless access to instruments that have traditionally lived on centralized venues.

Derive Chain is an Ethereum rollup built on the OP Stack, meaning transactions are processed on the rollup and settled back to Ethereum for finality. The DRV token gives holders governance rights over the Derive DAO, which controls how trading fees and gas fees collected by the chain are allocated; those fees currently flow into an insurance fund rather than being distributed directly to token holders. The protocol also offers an AI-powered trading interface called Derive Pro, which works with smart contract wallets to let users execute trades in a single step without manually paying gas.

The Derive DAO collects two streams of revenue: trading fees generated by activity on the Derive Protocol and gas fees paid by users of Derive Chain. Both streams are directed into an insurance fund intended to backstop the protocol against losses rather than paid out as income to token holders. Approximately 66.64 percent of the 1,500,000,000 maximum supply is currently in circulation, leaving a dilution overhang of roughly 50.05 percent of circulating supply still to be issued, which represents the share of total supply not yet distributed.