Derive, the onchain options and perpetuals exchange, is asking its community to authorize the use of existing treasury assets to fund a push into U.S.-regulated derivatives markets. The governance proposal would give the project's Foundation and its subsidiaries scope to pursue regulatory approvals, develop compliance systems, and establish or acquire entities.

The proposal, posted Oct. 12, states that Derive has already begun engaging with U.S. regulators and advisers. It envisions Derive's technology supporting a regulated U.S. venue while the existing international exchange continues serving eligible non-U.S. participants.

According to DefiLlama data as of Oct. 12, the exchange handled roughly $4.24 billion in options notional volume over the trailing 30 days. The figure measures the notional value of options traded, not premiums paid. It also indicates the scale of activity behind the governance question: the technology being considered for a regulated U.S. venue is already handling billions in monthly options volume on the international exchange.

Discussion Stage, No Vote Scheduled

The proposal remains at the discussion stage and does not constitute an approved launch. Derive announced that it was "live on the Derive forum" and invited community feedback. The document sets no deadline for discussion and no date for a vote, and as of publication, the latest proposals in Derive's Snapshot space included no vote on the U.S. expansion. Until a Snapshot vote is scheduled, the request carries no binding effect, and its timeline remains open-ended.

A Treasury Mandate, Not a Chosen License

If approved, the proposal would allow the Foundation to engage regulators, hire legal and compliance specialists, develop surveillance and clearing systems, and work with clearing firms, custodians and banking providers. It also permits establishing, acquiring, restructuring or capitalizing entities where necessary.

The mandate, however, does not select a particular regulatory registration, final corporate structure or product set. Approval would authorize work toward a regulated market rather than settle how that market would ultimately operate.

On the treasury side, the document authorizes the use of "limited existing treasury assets" without specifying a spending amount. Routine legal, regulatory and implementation expenditure would not require separate governance proposals. Any material capital commitment beyond that phase — for instance, capitalizing a new U.S. entity — would be weighed separately once the regulatory path and requirements become clearer.

The Foundation would seek to retain ownership and stewardship of Derive's core technology and intellectual property, with any future regulated U.S. business using that technology under commercial arrangements.

Separate From the V3 Rollout

The regulatory push follows Derive's Oct. 8 announcement that its V3 migration was complete and trading had resumed. Under V3, the Derive Chain-based setup is replaced with custody and proof verification on Ethereum mainnet, while order matching remains offchain, according to the V3 proposal.

That technical migration does not itself open the exchange to American users. The V3 document states that the centralized application and API "will continue not to be available to US persons," distinguishing those access restrictions from the permissionless Layer 1 contracts. The result is a venue whose smart contracts remain permissionless even as its main interface stays closed to U.S. persons.

The U.S. proposal commits to neither a launch date nor to completing a launch if regulatory, legal or commercial conditions prove unsatisfactory.

For readers tracking the process, the practical markers are procedural: a Snapshot vote appearing in Derive's governance space, a named regulatory registration or corporate structure, and a disclosed treasury spending figure. Until those appear, the proposal stands as a mandate request rather than a market launch.

Source: The Defiant