Derive (formerly Lyra) Review
Options fees published in full, Sigma Prime audited
of 10
Derive is a self-custodial options, perpetuals and spot venue using a central limit order book with trustless settlement. It publishes its fees in full — including a capped options fee — is BUSL-1.1 on its core, and names Sigma Prime for its vault audits.
No money changes hands. This is a non-commercial project: no advertising, no sponsored placements, and no affiliate or referral links. Links to the services below earn us nothing. Every overall score is the plain average of the criteria shown on the page, so you can check the arithmetic yourself — see our rating methodology and how the site is funded.
Function
Self-custodial options, perpetuals and spot; central limit order book
Options taker fee
$0.5 + min(0.03% notional, 12.5% premium)
Perp taker fee
$0.1 + 0.03% notional
Licence
BUSL-1.1 (v2-core)
Auditor
Sigma Prime (vault strategies)
Scores
Each criterion carries equal weight. The overall score is the average of these 5 scores — (9.0 + 5.0 + 5.0 + 3.0 + 4.0) ÷ 5 = 5.2.
Pros
- Self-custodial with trustless settlement, stated plainly despite a central limit order book
- Fees published in full, including options taker at $0.5 + min(0.03% notional, 12.5% premium)
- The options fee is capped at a share of premium, protecting small trades
- Vault strategy contracts audited by Sigma Prime, with reports on GitHub
- Governed by the Derive DAO
Cons
- The v2-core repository is Business Source License 1.1, not open source today
- Only Sigma Prime is named, for the vault strategies rather than the whole protocol
- No collateral or backing statement appears on the overview
- Governance timelock and upgrade control are not stated
A capped options fee, published
Derive publishes its full fee schedule, and the options structure is worth noting: a taker pays $0.5 plus the lesser of 0.03% of notional or 12.5% of the premium. Capping the fee at a share of the premium protects small trades from paying a disproportionate notional-based fee — a fair design, stated clearly. Perpetual and spot fees are published too, with spot trading free on both sides.
Self-custodial with a central order book
Derive is unusual in combining a centralised limit order book with self-custody, settling trades and liquidations trustlessly. Stating that combination plainly — rather than letting the order book imply custody — is to its credit.
Licence and audit scope
The v2-core repository is Business Source License 1.1, not open source today. Only Sigma Prime is named as auditor, and for the tokenised vault strategies rather than the whole protocol, so the audit disclosure is real but narrower than the strongest entries here.
Who builds it
Derive launched in 2021 as Lyra Finance and rebranded to Derive; its about page names founders Nick Forster, Michael Spain, Jake Fitzgerald and Dominic Romanowski. Governance runs through the Derive Foundation and the Derive DAO via the DRV token, while the affiliated orderbook exchange is operated by Lyra Trading Co. — a two-part structure that keeps the on-chain protocol and the trading venue as distinct entities.
How it compares
Reserve
Tokenised index baskets under a permissive licence
Term Finance
Fixed-rate lending, six named audits, restrictive licence
dHEDGE
AGPL vaults with a deep audit list, now rebranding
Maple Finance
Fee split published to the basis point
Goldfinch
On-chain credit, MIT, Trail of Bits audited
Index Coop
Per-product fees published, Apache-licensed
Nexus Mutual
On-chain capital pool, GPL-licensed
Synthetix
MIT-licensed with a published fee schedule
Ondo Finance
Thirteen named auditors on tokenised Treasuries
Sources
Scored from published primary sources rather than hands-on use. Every figure above comes from one of the pages below, on the date shown. Manufacturers change prices and specifications without notice — if something here no longer matches the source, tell us and we will correct it.
- 1.Derive — overview — checked
- 2.Derive — fees — checked
- 3.Derive — v2-core LICENSE (BUSL-1.1) — checked
- 4.Derive — vault audits (Sigma Prime) — checked
- 5.Derive — about page (founders, DAO) — checked
Frequently asked questions
What does Derive charge for options?
An options taker pays $0.5 plus the lesser of 0.03% of notional or 12.5% of the premium; makers pay the lesser of 0.01% of notional or 12.5% of premium. Spot trading is free.
Is Derive self-custodial?
Yes. Derive states it is self-custodial with trustless settlement, despite using a central limit order book.
Nothing here is financial advice. Editorial policy · How we score · How we're funded.