LibraryMarkets2021Design paperCorpus record
Everlasting Options
Everlasting options. Dave White and Sam Bankman-Fried.
An everlasting option is funded so that holding it approximates a rolling option position. The funding payment, not an expiry, keeps the price near the claim.
A reading of the public document. Not a copy of it, and not a claim about a later network that reused the name.
A perpetual product should say what funding is pegging the price to. If it cannot, it is a swap with a nickname.
The five-minute read
The defect
Listed options expire. A dealer who wants continuous exposure has to roll. Rolling is a calendar, a fee, and a gap.
The rule
An everlasting option is funded so that holding it approximates a rolling option position. The funding payment, not an expiry, keeps the price near the claim.
How it is put together
There is no expiry date. Funding is the mechanism that replaces expiry. The payoff still depends on a defined underlying.
Where the claim stops
The note is a design, not a risk disclosure for a venue.
One action, walked through
- The contract quotes a price.
- Holders pay or receive funding against a formula tied to the option's theoretical value.
- A trader can enter or leave without waiting for a roll.
- What index is funding measured against?
The argument, unpacked
Why it is still on the desk
A perpetual product should say what funding is pegging the price to. If it cannot, it is a swap with a nickname.
After the text
Power perpetuals are the sibling note. Venues implemented pieces. The formula is the paper.
What has to be true
- The note is a design, not a risk disclosure for a venue.
- Funding can be wrong if the index is wrong.
- It does not remove leverage risk.
What happened after the paper
Power perpetuals are the sibling note. Venues implemented pieces. The formula is the paper.
What to check before you use the idea
- What index is funding measured against?
- Is there an expiry or not?
- Who pays funding when the price is above the formula?
Terms
- Funding
- A periodic payment that pulls the contract toward a target value.
- Everlasting
- A contract that does not expire and must be kept honest by funding.
The problem the paper names
Listed options expire. A dealer who wants continuous exposure has to roll. Rolling is a calendar, a fee, and a gap.
What the design proposes
- There is no expiry date.
- Funding is the mechanism that replaces expiry.
- The payoff still depends on a defined underlying.
How the mechanism is specified
- The contract quotes a price.
- Holders pay or receive funding against a formula tied to the option's theoretical value.
- A trader can enter or leave without waiting for a roll.
What this page does not treat as proven
- The note is a design, not a risk disclosure for a venue.
- Funding can be wrong if the index is wrong.
- It does not remove leverage risk.
Why a venture studio still reads it
A perpetual product should say what funding is pegging the price to. If it cannot, it is a swap with a nickname.
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.