A Unified Framework and Comparative Study of Decentralized Finance Derivatives Protocols

Abstract: Decentralized Finance (DeFi) applications introduce novel financial instruments replicating and extending traditional ones through blockchain-based smart contracts. Among these, derivatives protocols enable the decentralized trading of cryptoassets that are the counterpart of derivative products available in traditional finance. Despite their growing significance, DeFi derivatives protocols remain relatively understudied compared to other DeFi instruments, such as lending protocols and decentralized exchanges with automated market makers. This paper systematically analyzes DeFi derivatives protocols - categorized into perpetual, options, and synthetics - in the field, highlighting similarities, differences, dynamics, and actors. As a result of our study, we provide a formal characterization of decentralized derivative products and introduce a unifying conceptual framework that captures the design principles and core architecture of such protocols. We complement our theoretical analysis with numerical simulations: we evaluate protocol dynamics under various economic conditions, including changes in underlying asset prices, volatility, protocol-specific fees, leverage, and their impact on liquidation and profitability.