What is Polynomial Finance (POLY)?
👋 New to this? Just start reading at the top — it begins in plain English and gets more detailed as you scroll. Jump to any level:
🟢 The simple version
Plain English — no jargon. Start here.
Polynomial Finance is a structured options vault protocol on Optimism using Synthetix as the options backend — similar to Ribbon Finance's Theta Vaults but native to the OP/Synthetix ecosystem — automatically selling weekly options to earn theta (time decay) yield.
Options vaults on Optimism
Deposit ETH → Polynomial's covered call vault automatically writes weekly ETH calls on Synthetix → collects option premiums. If ETH stays below strike: vault keeps all premiums. If ETH rallies above strike: options exercised, vault delivers ETH at lower strike price (caps upside). Similar to Ribbon's Theta Vaults but Synthetix-powered. ~100M POLY governance. Is POLY legal in India? Yes. 30% tax, 1% TDS apply.
🟡 A bit more detail
For when you want to go a little deeper.
POLY vs Ribbon Finance
Both systematic weekly options vaults. Ribbon: multi-chain (ETH mainnet + Arbitrum), various options sources, spun out Aevo orderbook. Polynomial: Optimism-native, Synthetix backend specifically. Tightly integrated with OP DeFi ecosystem.
🟣 The full technical picture
For the technically curious.
Key facts
- Token: POLY (~100M)
- Chain: Optimism (Synthetix backend)
- Strategy: Weekly covered calls/puts
- vs Ribbon: OP-native vs multi-chain