Rysk: How to Earn Stablecoin Yield with DeFi Options in 1-Click | DeFi Frontier

Rysk is designed to make covered calls and cash-secured puts accessible to people who want options income without having to operate as options traders. Dan said the project began around 2020 as an options AMM built on Opyn infrastructure, but struggled to attract users in that form. The team pivoted to Rysk V12, which he said launched about a year before the interview. Its guided interface lets users choose a strike and expiry, while its liquidity-for-quote system obtains prices from options desks for real options contracts.

In a cash-secured put, a user deposits a stablecoin and chooses the price at which they would be willing to buy an asset. The user receives the option premium upfront and keeps it whether the asset finishes above or below the strike. If the price is below the strike at expiry, the user receives the asset; if it is above, the collateral is returned. Dan framed the strategy as a way to earn stablecoin yield while seeking to acquire BTC or another asset at a chosen lower price, with returns driven by options volatility as DeFi yields compressed.

In a covered call, a user deposits an asset and selects a sale price, receiving a premium upfront. If the asset is above the strike at expiry, the user receives USDT; if it is below, the deposited asset is returned. The distinction is in the outcome the user is willing to accept: puts may suit people prepared to acquire and hold an asset, while calls may suit holders prepared to sell at a selected price. Dan cited a 45% APR shown in an interface example, not as a general or guaranteed rate, and said cash-secured puts accounted for about 60% of Rysk’s TVL.

Dan reported roughly $60 million in TVL and about 90% retention of funds, describing existing users as rolling money into new positions each Friday. Positions settle and funds return to users on Fridays, so TVL drops and then rises as users enter new positions; he said the $60 million reflected activity over roughly the preceding two weeks. Monthly volume, he said, had grown from about $1 million to $180 million, though the references to a June launch and March made the timing unclear. Rysk earns fees on option premiums and said it had not paid market makers or made insider or liquidity deals.

Rysk said market makers integrated within three or four days of the team identifying an arbitrage opportunity, after which quotes became aggressive and competitive. Pricing depends on volatility and trade terms, and Dan identified expanding liquidity as a priority because it is essential to the product working well. More than half of users were reportedly making their first options trade on Rysk, whose user base also includes DeFi power users, whales, liquid funds, and institutions. The team characterized Rysk as focused on straightforward income strategies for asset holders, in contrast with Derive’s emphasis on more sophisticated trading and mathematical flexibility.

Rysk also intends its infrastructure to serve protocols, foundations, treasuries, and institutions, although institutional adoption can involve compliance and counterparty-risk considerations. Dan described composability as a design goal: covered calls and cash-secured puts can be built on on-chain assets, and gold was the next asset in testing. He said covered calls are only one of the options strategies the platform could offer, and that the team is exploring HIP-4-related prediction outcomes and bounded options, including permissionless markets where the structure supports them. The host noted a sharp rise in Rysk TVL since July 2025 and expected on-chain options volume and open interest to grow in 2026.