Variational Predicts RWA Perpetuals Will Soon Be the Biggest Contract Class in DeFi
The startup plans to use the new capital to deepen liquidity from traditional finance dealers and expand its retail trading app Omni.
- On Wednesday, protocol Variational announced a $50 million Series A funding round led by Dragonfly Capital, with support from Bain Capital Crypto and Coinbase Ventures.
- Variational co-founder and CEO Lucas Schuermann argues that building order books from scratch creates a "cold start" problem; the platform instead aggregates existing liquidity to enable "perps on everything."
- Concurrent with the funding, the protocol launched its first Real-World Asset markets, including gold, silver, copper, and WTI Crude, allowing traders to access perpetuals on commodities.
- Schuermann describes the Omni platform as more "brokerage-like" than a direct exchange, with Variational planning to transition from its current invite-only state to a public release in select jurisdictions.
- The protocol's 2026 roadmap includes listing additional RWA markets and releasing a trading API, while "Phase 2" will route liquidity directly from TradFi sources to support over 100 new markets this summer.
13 Articles
13 Articles
DeFi Derivatives Protocol Variational Raises $50 Million Series A Led by Dragonfly
The decentralized financial ecosystem has experienced an extraordinary concentration of venture capital as the on-chain derivatives venue Variational announced the successful completion of a fifty-million-dollar Series A funding round. This major financing milestone was spearheaded by prominent digital asset investment firm Dragonfly, with significant secondary backing from existing participants Bain Capital Crypto and Coinbase Ventures. This la…
Dragonfly Leads $50M Round for Arbitrum Platform Variational
TLDR Variational raised $50 million in a Series A round led by Dragonfly Capital. Bain Capital Crypto and Coinbase Ventures also participated in the funding round. The Arbitrum-based platform focuses on onchain derivatives and real-world asset trading. The company launched Phase 1 of its rollout with gold, silver, copper, and oil markets. Variational plans to introduce over 100 traditional finance markets this summer. Variational, an Arbitrum-b…
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