Synthetix and Derive call off $27 million merger proposal

Synthetix and Derive contributors mutually withdrew proposals for  a $27 million deal in which Synthetix would acquire Derive (formerly Lyra), a decentralized options platform.

In mid-May, Synthetix proposed to acquire Derive's treasury, technology, and product suite through a token swap to merge the two platforms into a unified derivatives protocol on the Ethereum mainnet.

Both sides formalized the proposal as a Synthetix Improvement Proposal (SIP-415) and a corresponding Derive Improvement Proposal (DIP). Derive announced that these have now been canceled.

"The SIP-415 and DIP proposals to merge Synthetix and Derive have been mutually withdrawn after thoughtful discussion and community feedback," the team at Derive noted .

The deal valued Derive at $27 million, with a token swap ratio of 27 DRV (Derive's token) for 1 SNX (Synthetix's token). Synthetix planned to mint 29.3 million new SNX tokens for the acquisition.

Later, Derive community members criticized the deal and argued that Derive's higher revenue in recent weeks compared to Synthetix did not justify the acquisition or the proposed valuation.

Critics also argued that Derive's higher revenue than Synthetix suggested it was undervalued at $27 million compared to Synthetix's market cap. 

Synthetix intended to leverage Derive's expertise for its Perps V4 product, a derivatives platform with a centralized limit order book on Ethereum, but it will now have to explore other options to strengthen its ecosystem offerings. With the deal now off, Derive said the development reaffirmed its independent trajectory.