Variational

Variational is building foundational infrastructure to bring retail and institutional derivatives trading on-chain. Founded in 2022, the company has raised strategic funding from leading investors including Coinbase Ventures, Bain Capital Crypto, Peak XV (formerly Sequoia India & Southeast Asia), Dragonfly Capital, Mirana Ventures, Caladan, and HackVC.

Core Products

Variational Protocol

The Variational Protocol is a universal peer-to-peer trading protocol for on-chain derivatives. It enables safe and efficient trading, clearing, and settlement of perpetual futures, options, and customizable derivatives. The protocol is designed to support a broad ecosystem of applications with three key features:

• Request-for-Quote (RFQ) - Traders get the best all-in price for every trade without interacting with traditional order books, accessing aggregated liquidity from CEXs, DEXs, DeFi protocols, and OTC markets
• On-Chain Settlement - All trades are settled and cleared on-chain in isolated escrow smart contracts, reducing counterparty risk
• Customizable Infrastructure - The protocol supports a wide range of derivative types and can be adapted for various use cases

The protocol has facilitated over $140 billion in total trading volume with $900M+ in current open interest across approximately 500 market listings.

Omni

Omni is Variational's flagship retail trading application built on the Variational Protocol. It positions itself as "the most rewarding place to trade" perpetual futures with several unique features:

• Zero Trading Fees - Omni charges 0% trading fees on all positions, regardless of size
• Loss Refunds - Traders have a chance to get losing trades completely refunded (over $3M in trading losses refunded to date)
• Deep Liquidity - Access to 500+ markets with liquidity aggregated from centralized exchanges, decentralized exchanges, DeFi protocols, and OTC markets
• Proven Track Record - 50K+ unique traders, 100M+ total trades executed

Omni targets retail traders seeking competitive perpetuals trading without traditional exchange fees.

Pro (Coming Soon)

Variational Pro is designed to modernize the trillion-dollar OTC derivatives market by bringing institutional trading on-chain. Key features include:

• Custom Derivatives - Build and trade custom futures and options on any asset with a price feed
• Automated Risk Management - Real-time margin management and configurable liquidation engine to mitigate counterparty risk
• Modernized OTC Workflows - Centralized platform replacing Telegram groups and spreadsheets for OTC trading, with automated clearing, settlement, and reporting

Pro targets institutional traders and advanced users requiring customizable derivatives and peer-to-peer counterparty relationships.

Key Strengths

Protocol-First Architecture - By building a universal protocol layer, Variational enables multiple applications (Omni for retail, Pro for institutions) while maintaining interoperability and shared liquidity.

Deep Backing - Strategic investment from top-tier crypto VCs including Coinbase Ventures, Bain Capital Crypto, and Peak XV provides strong credibility and industry connections.

Significant Traction - With $140B+ in trading volume and 50K+ traders, Variational has demonstrated product-market fit in the competitive perpetuals trading space.

Team Expertise - Founded by researchers, mathematicians, and engineers with deep expertise in quantitative trading and financial services. The leadership includes Edward Yu (Founder) and Lucas V. Schuermann (Founder & CEO).

Why Choose Variational

Variational offers a comprehensive solution for on-chain derivatives trading at both retail and institutional levels. For retail traders, Omni provides a fee-free, high-liquidity trading experience with unique incentives like loss refunds. For institutions, Pro promises to bring transparency and automation to OTC derivatives trading while reducing counterparty risk through on-chain settlement. The underlying Variational Protocol provides a foundation for future derivatives innovation in Web3.