Bringing OTC On-Chain and the VariationalOMNI Perp Dex In this episode I speak with Edward Yu, co-founder of @variational_io. We begin the conversation with Edward’s background in crypto OTC markets. He explains how the space evolved away from Telegram chats, the complexities of pricing derivative structures on the long-tail of alternative crypto currencies, and the sources of natural flow in the space. This experience led Edward to co-found Variational, which seeks to bring the trillion dollar OTC derivatives market on-chain by disaggregating settlement, margining, and derivative payoff logic into programmable primitives. Built on top of Variational is the OMNI perp dex – or decentralized perpetual futures exchange for the non-crypto-speaking listeners. Unlike other perp dexes that are build around a centralized order book, OMNI effectively acts as a user interface to a OTC RFQ system. On the other side is OLP – the OMNI Liquidity Provider. This structure allows OMNI to provide significant depth of liquidity on a huge breadth of investable assets despite the platform being in closed beta at the time of recording. Given its unique design, we spend a significant amount of time discussing the pros, cons, and risks of this structure. This conversation is, obviously, out of my usual realm. But for those listeners interested in market structure and where the world of finance may be headed, this is one not to miss. Please enjoy my conversation with Edward Yu.

"15 million dollars a year with 15 sharpe, who cares. 15 billion a year with 2 sharpe, that's hard." Paging @__paleologo , we have literally created a 15m/yr @ 15 sharpe strategy. Time to give it away to try to make a billion dollars

Getting pretty close to the 1b taker volume milestone 👀

Variational is compounding velocity, and it’s only the beginning. They've recently: - Topped $80M in daily volume last week, stacking multiple ATHs in users, open interest, and deposits. - What's remarkable: this is happening pre-incentives, during a closed beta. No points, no cashbacks, just pure product-market fit. - Cumulative volume approaching $1.6B, and the internal bar for excitement has shifted from $1M/day to $50M+. That’s a massive psychological reset. - Most comparable platforms took 12–18 months to hit $100M+ daily with aggressive incentive programs. @variational_io is nearing that organically in under 6 months. This tells me: → There's deep user conviction in Omni’s core loop, traders and LPs alike are leaning in. → Capital efficiency and UX are strong enough to create stickiness before rewards. → When loss refunds, OLP deposits, spread discounts, and reward tiers go live, this flywheel could go parabolic. If this is the baseline before the points program, most of the market isn't ready for what's next.

Our numbers are accelerating. Exponential growth :0

What are your thoughts on the recent UI changes on Omni? We've got plenty more coming 👀

Our thesis is simple. At the exact same spreads, would you rather: a) Binance/Citadel make all the money b) Split the money between yourself and @variational_io

Over 141,000 tokens have graduated from . Relying on a manual listings team in this market is a losing strategy. At any given moment, there are dozens, sometimes hundreds, of tokens trending that people want to trade. The only way to keep up with this narrative-driven demand is through automated listings.

Someone asked why our engineers aren't more active on Twitter. Honestly, I've found there's an inverse correlation between an engineer's raw skill and their desire to post about it. I'll take a team of brilliant, heads-down builders any day. I can handle the tweeting for them.

Omni (built on @variational_io) is the most structurally sound trading venue onchain right now, and most still haven’t caught on. Let's dive a little bit deeper into their product and rewards👇 The product is leveling up fast: 1) Spreads have compressed across the board. You can now route multi-million dollar $BTC trades at 3–4 bps, without touching an order book. That’s tighter than most CEXs. 2) $HYPE markets are back, with spreads ~50% tighter than before. Retail flavor meets institutional-grade infra. 3) Their listing engine is live again, feeding a stream of new tokens. Users now get access to majors, memecoins, vol indices, anything that can be priced can be traded. Here’s the kicker: Omni charges no trading fees. Just a $0.10 flat fee on deposits/withdrawals. That alone breaks the mold of most onchain venues. And the architecture makes all of this sustainable: > Liquidity comes from an in-house OLP that routes and hedges across CEXs, DEXs, and OTC desks > Pricing is driven by internal quoting, no reliance on external market-makers > Settlement is instant, with users insulated from counterparty risk via isolated pools Variational isn't playing some mercenary points game. The reward structure is also native to the protocol. They have: > USDC refunds on losses > Spread discounts for high-volume traders > Referral rewards based on actual traded volume > Platform credit to activate new/referred users > A tiered system, so rewards scale with usage The OLP keeps the spread, not external firms. So rewards aren’t a cost center, but a redistribution of real value captured by the system. Overall, Variational has all three: Deep liquidity, aligned incentives, and no-fee execution. If you’re still farming points elsewhere, pay attention. Variational isn’t competing for attention, it’s competing for flow. 🔥