Cega is Here to Go Even Faster | Interview

It’s a volatile world out there. Handling the harder stages of the market shouldn’t be complicated–at least, that’s Cega’s approach to DeFi derivatives via exotic options.

Cega offers exotic options vaults (#PoweredByPyth) for users to gain controlled exposure depending on their risk-return profiles. Whether you’re looking for Cruise Control, or if you Gotta Go Fast, or if you really want to take things to an Insanic degree, Cega offers it.

We’re joined today by the Cega team and taking a deep dive into their origins, their vision, and the inspiration behind the genesis of Cega and the Cega Insanics club.

Let’s start off easy. What is Cega?

Cega is the first DeFi exotic derivatives protocol that offers safer, high-yield vaults for investors to stake their stablecoin.

Cega vaults offer principal protection against severe market movements up to a 90% price drop. This means that even if the crypto market falls by 90% in the next 30 days, investors do not lose their principal while still collecting high yield.

We’re bringing real innovation to DeFi and look forward to growing our catalog of exotic options structured products for investors.

How do we use Pyth, you ask?

We use Pyth pricing data to determine whether Cega options trades have knocked-in or knocked-out and to calculate the trade settlement at expiry. It’s really critical that pricing data is accurate, reliable, and available–and we work with Pyth to deliver this quality for our customers.

Who is Cega? What is your team setting off to solve?

We’ve got four (4) co-founders. Collectively we bring teammates who are former exotic options traders, experienced founders, and full-stack engineers. You can reach us on Twitter–come say hi!

• Arisa (@arisatoyo)
• Winston (@zhangwins)
• Victor (@vizhang)
• Felicia (@feliciacx0)

Cega’s mission is to create superior, flexible, and diversified investment opportunities for every Web3 investor. By creating DeFi exotic options, we’re tackling a number of critical problems for users in crypto today: (1) declining market yields, (2) users often get rugged in crypto investing and take on high-risk unknowingly, (3) lack of diverse investment options, (4) poor UI/UX.

We believe the market is ready for crypto exotic options given a number of macro trends in the last few years, and we’ve built the necessary technological innovations to be able to bring this to the ecosystem.

What are these Cega fixed coupon notes we’ve been hearing about?

Fixed coupon notes (FCN) are one type of exotic option structured product, and is also the first type that we launched. Investors who invest in FCNs earn high, daily yield payments on their deposited capital until the note expires/matures. FCNs also offer protection on investors’ deposited capital from market downturns by up to a 90% price drop in asset prices.

There are a variety of FCN products that investors can choose from, each offering different returns, risk profiles, and exposure to crypto assets. Right now we have five (5) vaults:

Vault 1: “Cruise Control”

• Underlying: BTC-ETH
• Price Protection: 90% protected
• Quoted APY: 10.47%

Vault 2: “Genesis Basket”

• Underlying: BTC-ETH-SOL
• Price Protection: 90% protected
• Quoted APY: 10.75%

Vault 3: “Gotta Go Fast”

• Underlying: BTC-ETH-SOL
• Price Protection: 50% protected
• Quoted APY: 109.1%

Vaults 4 and 5 below are exclusively available to Cega NFT holders:

Vault 4: “Insanic”

• Underlying: ETH-SOL-AVAX
• Price Protection: 50% protected
• Quoted APY: 146.62%
• Requirements: hold 1 or more NFTs for access

Vault 5: “Solana DeFi Summer” (5 CSS NFTs)

• Underlying: SRM-ORCA-SBR
• Price Protection: 50% protected
• Quoted APY: 353.59%
• Requirements: hold 5 or more NFTs for access

It’s only been one month since mainnet launch! How was that experience? What should we check out?

Mainnet was an incredible experience because we were finally able to share our product with users!

We grew to $32M+ in TVL despite the bear market and have heard great user feedback so far. We also launched our NFT at mainnet (more on that later) and released a new, limited edition investment vault called “Solana DeFi Summer” just last week!

To get started on Cega mainnet, check that you have the following: (1) Phantom wallet, (2) USDC, and (3) some SOL to pay for transaction fees. Got that? Now you’re ready!

• Head over to https://app.cega.fi/ and check out the below:(A) FCN vaults: take a look across vault products and consider which risk/reward profile matches your needs as an investor. All vaults take USDC deposits because this increases yield transparency for users.
• (B) Exclusive vaults for NFT holders: do you see a few vaults that are greyed out? Those are vaults that only NFT holders can access. Head to Magic Eden, grab a Cega NFT, and refresh the app to be able to deposit.
• (C) Cega knowledge library aka Docs: check out our documentation where we cover the ins-and-outs of exotic options, fixed coupon notes, and more on Cega.

You’re a DeFi protocol, but you have an NFT? Can you tell us more about that?

We decided to create an NFT because we wanted to reward our community of super users, nicknamed “Insanics”. As a DeFi protocol, we only wanted to launch an NFT if it would deliver meaningful value and utility for our holders. As much as we love digital JPEGs, we made sure our Cega NFTs could do more.

Cega Super Sanics (CSS) is Cega’s collection of 5,000 utility NFTs — the art for each NFT is unique and generative. CSS NFTs feature nearly 200 variable traits such as eyes, clothing, accessories, and many rare and special details.

1 CSS NFT =

• Token airdrop boost for CSS holders who use Cega
• Access the highest APY vault on mainnet launch day (CSS holders only)
• First access to new product releases and limited trading strategies
• Beta access to R&D opportunities and user research
• Membership to the #1 community for exotic options experts and fans
• Sick CSS swag and merch drops
• Tickets to protocol live & digital events…and more!

Right now, if you hold a Cega NFT, you can access two special vaults on mainnet that are exclusive for NFT-holders and offer the highest APY opportunities. If you don’t have any NFTs, head over to Magic Eden and pick one up.

Why the name Cega? And the egg emojis? And what are your favorite way to eat an egg?

Cega is an actual term in derivatives trading that refers to dCorrelation/dSpot. It’s how much your trade PnL changes based on correlation between assets changing. Cega offers a basket of options so correlation between assets creates a part of the high yield.

The egg emoji was intended to be fun! It sounds similar to “C-egg-a”, and as the saying goes, you don’t want all your eggs in one basket. Get access to superior, diversified investment vaults with Cega.

One of the most searched articles in our Cega FAQ support page is actually about how the founders eat their eggs. Here’s the team’s answers:

Arisa: Onsen 🥚

Winston: Soft Boiled 🥚

Vic: 63C Sous Vide 🥚

Felicia: Sunny-side up 🥚

Cega is leading the exotic derivative market in DeFi! How does Cega expect the field to continue to grow?

Cega is pushing the boundaries of DeFi derivatives and innovating. Cega is excited to be the thought leaders of DeFi 3.0, the next evolution in DeFi that allows users to invest responsibly, earn sustainable yield and offer flexibility. Cega is ready to help bring more of these products into the ecosystem. We are super excited to have Pyth be part of our journey as we continue to push innovation in the DeFi space!

Any final words for our readers?

We have one major ask for you — try Cega! We stand behind the superior DeFi product we’ve built and can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

Additionally, we’re hiring for a full-stack engineer and institutional salesperson to join the team. If you know anyone great, please send them our way.

We can’t wait to hear what you think! Feel free to join the Pyth Discord, follow Pyth on Twitter, and join the Telegram to learn more and ask any questions you may have. You can also learn more here.