News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily report: Variational founder and CEO Lucas Schuermann participated in an X Space event hosted by The Rollup founder Andy last night, during which Lucas disclosed some details about Variational Pro. The community's key takeaways are as follows:1. Variational Pro will focus on the institutional OTC derivatives market, covering options, interest rates, foreign exchange (FX), and structured products. OTC derivatives are one of the largest financial markets globally, with outstanding notional value of approximately $850 trillion, while Bitcoin derivatives open interest stands at around $100 billion. Although the two use different statistical methodologies, this is enough to give you an intuitive sense of the scale gap.2. Variational Pro's business scale will ultimately surpass Variational Omni. Traditional OTC derivatives trading methods remain outdated (requiring calls to bank trading desks for quotes, manual price negotiation, back-and-forth contract exchanges, managing collateral and counterparty risk, and manual execution of clearing and settlement processes). Variational Pro aims to automate this process through multi-dealer request-for-quote (RFQ), smart contracts, and stablecoin settlement.3. Some of Variational Pro's trading instruments (including options) may eventually be opened to retail users on Variational Omni. Currently, Variational has partnered with several mainstream institutional partners, and large clients are expected to onboard Variational Pro soon.
Odaily News – Andy, host of The Rollup podcast, stated on X: "We have received fairly reliable information that Ark Invest, founded by Cathie Wood, will become one of the first asset managers to launch tokenized securities through a transfer agent under the SEC's 'Innovation Exemption' policy. The plan will start with Ark's funds and then expand further. Several institutions, including Fidelity and WisdomTree, are also likely to follow suit."