duration

Duration.Finance is a decentralized options protocol (moreso exposure marketplace) that changes options trading by replacing traditional strike-price selection with duration-based markets. Instead of choosing strike prices, traders simply select how many days of price exposure they want (1-365 days) while paying a transparent daily rate. The protocol uses current market prices as strikes when options are taken, eliminating complex strike selection and ensuring traders always enter at fair market value.

The marketplace works through competitive yield dynamics: Liquidity providers (LPs) deposit assets and set daily premium rates (e.g., "$50/day for my ETH"), competing to offer the lowest rates to attract takers. When a trader takes an option, they pay the daily rate multiplied by their chosen duration upfront to the LP. All options are 100% collateralized by LP assets held in smart contracts, eliminating liquidation risks. At expiry, profitable options are automatically settled through 1inch integration, with the LP receiving the strike price value and the trader capturing any gains above (for calls) or below (for puts) the strike. This creates a sustainable yield market where LPs earn predictable daily returns and traders get flexible, liquidation-free price exposure.

Providers sell exposure. Takers buy duration. It's unorthodox as it disregards price sensitivity and the need to price volatility. It's simple, crowdsource and could be a great fit for certain long term commited actors or market neutral strategies as a source of yield.

It also has x402 (HTTP) endpoints and base mini-app compatibility - though these were not fully developed and tested and are likely currently broken. There's actually alot that is broken.

Duration.Finance is built with a multi-layered architecture combining Solidity smart contracts on Base, a Next.js 14 frontend with TypeScript, and PostgreSQL for off-chain commitment storage. The core innovation lies in the duration-centric smart contract design using Foundry/Forge for development, where we implemented EIP-712 typed signatures for secure off-chain LP commitments that get verified on-chain only when taken. We integrated 1inch's settlement infrastructure for automatic option exercise through their Limit Order Protocol and routing system, capturing 0.01% margins on settlements while ensuring optimal execution. The frontend leverages MiniKit for Base ecosystem integration with Farcaster authentication, ConnectKit for wallet management, and a custom x402 payment system that charges external API users $1 USDC per commitment while keeping the web interface completely free. A particularly clever hack was designing the hybrid on-chain/off-chain architecture: LP commitments live off-chain as signed messages (zero gas cost for market making), but settlements happen on-chain with full 1inch integration, creating a gasless market-making experience while maintaining trustless execution. The protocol uses market-price strikes set at take-time rather than pre-defined strikes, eliminating complex options pricing models in favor of simple daily-rate multiplication, making it accessible to both traditional DeFi users and options traders.