Question 1

What is Thetanuts Finance (NUTS)?

Accepted Answer

Thetanuts Finance is a decentralised on-chain options protocol that focuses on altcoin options, enabling users to take long or short positions on these options. The platform was initially launched in September 2021 with its Basic Vaults, which sold out-of-the-money (OTM) European cash-settled options to accredited market makers, generating yields for users in the form of option premiums.

With the introduction of its v3 upgrade, Thetanuts Finance shifted its focus to altcoin options, leveraging its existing Basic Vault LP Tokens to enable new use cases in on-chain options trading. The v3 architecture is supported by a Lending Market and Uniswap v3 Pools, all integrated within the v3 interface. The platform operates as a multi-chain protocol, seeking to fill a gap in the altcoin options space, which is often underserved compared to major assets like Ethereum (ETH) and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).

Question 2

What is Thetanuts Finance (NUTS) used for?

Accepted Answer

Thetanuts Finance's primary function is to provide a decentralised platform for trading altcoin options. The platform's v3 upgrade enables users to engage in on-chain options trading with new functionalities, supported by the tokenized Basic Vault positions, represented by $XYZ-C (Call Vault LP Token) and $XYZ-P (Put Vault LP Token). These tokens form the basis for all trading strategies on the platform.

The native token, $NUTS, serves several key purposes within the ecosystem:

* **Governance and Decentralisation:** $NUTS can be staked to become $veNUTS, enabling holders to participate in gauge voting for the protocol’s various components and influence the governance towards its long-term objectives.
* **Liquidity Incentives:** $NUTS is used to incentivise liquidity on the platform. Holders can lock $veNUTS for up to 12 months to receive up to 1.5x Boosted Emissions on their liquidity incentives.
* **Value Accrual:** Fees generated by the platform are accumulated in the Treasury, with the Thetanuts Finance DAO controlling these funds once governance is active.
* **Dynamic Liquidity Provisioning:** $NUTS can be used to provide liquidity in pools on Uniswap v2, which improves on-chain liquidity and earns users fees and $veNUTS emissions.