Since the creation of the first rice options exchange in Dojima, Japan, in 1730, there has been a need to hedge against assets that are vital to the well-being of an ecosystem when an economy reaches a certain level of maturity.

Options and derivatives have become an innate part of any market dynamic. It is natural to assume that these dynamics are required for NFT markets to evolve and mature into serious economic engines. While the NFT market grew substantially in 2022, there is still significant infrastructure required before the ERC-721 standard can be taken seriously. For the asset class to mature, NFTs must have a financial primitive that supports safe and decentralized hedging, affordable speculation, and yield generation. The absence of such primitives results in multiple issues in the market.

Inability To Hedge: Traders can only purchase NFTs at a low price and hope to sell at a higher price. There is currently no way for holders of NFTs to hedge their positions or profit from market downturns.

Inability to Generate Real Yield: Holders of ERC-721 assets are unable to safely earn sustainable passive income.

Inability to Speculate Affordably: Since digital collectibles are non-fungible cultural objects, they can only be traded in discrete increments. Majority of traders are unable to participate in high-value NFT markets because they cannot afford the minimum price required to purchase a discrete increment, e.g. 1 full CryptoPunk.

Wasabi offers a decentralized and permissionless solution to all three problems while creating new, essential on-chain primitives. We’ve been building privately in the trenches and will announce details on how to get early access soon. Follow @wasabi_protocol and turn notifications on to stay up to date.

Since the creation of the first rice options exchange in Dojima, Japan, in 1730, there has been a need to hedge against assets that are vital to the well-being of an ecosystem when an economy reaches a certain level of maturity.

Options and derivatives have become an innate part of any market dynamic. It is natural to assume that these dynamics are required for NFT markets to evolve and mature into serious economic engines. While the NFT market grew substantially in 2022, there is still significant infrastructure required before the ERC-721 standard can be taken seriously. For the asset class to mature, NFTs must have a financial primitive that supports safe and decentralized hedging, affordable speculation, and yield generation. The absence of such primitives results in multiple issues in the market.

Inability To Hedge: Traders can only purchase NFTs at a low price and hope to sell at a higher price. There is currently no way for holders of NFTs to hedge their positions or profit from market downturns.

Inability to Generate Real Yield: Holders of ERC-721 assets are unable to safely earn sustainable passive income.

Inability to Speculate Affordably: Since digital collectibles are non-fungible cultural objects, they can only be traded in discrete increments. Majority of traders are unable to participate in high-value NFT markets because they cannot afford the minimum price required to purchase a discrete increment, e.g. 1 full CryptoPunk.

Wasabi offers a decentralized and permissionless solution to all three problems while creating new, essential on-chain primitives. We’ve been building privately in the trenches and will announce details on how to get early access soon. Follow @wasabi_protocol and turn notifications on to stay up to date.