Hassan Maishera
Ithaca Protocol, a composable options protocol founded by an ex-Goldman Sachs partner and Amber Group executive, has announced the launch of its live beta platform.
In a press release shared with Cryptowisser, the team said Ithaca is the first options platform in the industry to offer executable prices across vanilla options, digital options, option strategies, forwards, and structured products, totaling over 250 prices across strikes and expiries.
The platform offers users a wide range of benefits including its auction-based matching engine; more trades getting filled for the same number of orders compared to a standard auction; and empowering users to tailor their exposure for any expected market move as well as the desired scenario.
Thanks to Ithaca, users can now access advanced financial engineering functionality previously exclusive to market makers, OTC, and exotic desks. The team revealed that off-chain matching, Arbitrum on-chain settlement and Axelar cross-chain bridging constitute Ithaca’s architecture foundational components.
The beta launch comes shortly after the completion of Ithaca’s Open Alpha phase. With the launch of the beta platform, on-chain actors will soon be able to verifiably spin up and run instances of key Ithaca risk-sharing ecosystem components, including the matching, collateral optimization, and VAR engines.
While commenting on this launch, Ithaca Protocol’s founding team said,
“Today’s launch is a major milestone in our journey to transform the world of options and structured products, and with deeper liquidity now available over and above the financial engineering inherent in the Ithaca Matching Engine, more users will be able to execute on their ideas reliably. By enabling the emergence of a trust-minimized and disruptive ecosystem, we shall unlock new possibilities in risk sharing and empower users with unprecedented access to a broad range of risk-sharing instruments.”
Ithaca Announces Airdrop Campaign
In addition to the beta platform launch, Ithaca Protocol also announced the launch of its formula-based airdrop program to incentivize liquidity, reward early adopters, and advance ecosystem development.
The team revealed that the first season of the campaign will span approximately six months, featuring two airdrop events. Users can earn points by executing transactions, submitting orders, engaging on social media, and joining campaigns.
The project has raised $2.8 million so far, with Cumberland and Wintermute Ventures leading the pre-seed round in Q4 2023. Other notable participants in the funding round include Room40, Andrew Keys, Ghaf Capital, Enjinstarter, Merit Circle, Tradedog, Axelar co-founder Georgios Vlachos, TenSquared managing partner Stan Miroshnik, Woodstock general partner Pranav Sharma, BFF managing partners Mansoor and Aly Madhavji, Existential VC managing partner Yoeri Krom and angel investors Psycho, traderMayne, rookieXBT, and Dentoshi.
Ithaca Protocol is a non-custodial composable options protocol. Its auction-based matching engine allows for more liquidity for a given number of orders; users are empowered to tailor their exposure to any expected market move and desired scenario.
