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Mori Finance

$MORI

Mori is the options layer for Solana altcoins.

$250K raise
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Highlights

  • Market makers: Mori custodies user funds and executes every trade through its own OTC account, with an institutional options market maker backed by Kraken as its counterparty today. We're working to win flow from our market maker, which would bring $10–20M a month in volume to Mori.
  • Live today: $1.7M in covered-call volume in October 2026, with options on SOL, cbBTC, PENGU and jitoSOL, including the first-ever PENGU options.
  • dOTC desk (coming soon): Anyone can request options on any altcoin on Solana, HyperEVM, Ethereum or Base, even tokens no options venue lists. Trades have higher minimum sizes than the main app, and size may be capped per token. Launching with GRASS, JUP, MET and ORCA.
  • Option builder codes (coming soon): Any app can offer options to its users through Mori's infrastructure and earn a fee on every trade. Companies interested in integrating include ImperialPerps and Orca.

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Overview

About the founder

I'm Pavan Katepalli. For 10+ years I've built companies right as a technology was about to break out: coding bootcamps, NFTs, and now onchain options. **What I’ve built:** - **Taking Trilogy Education from launch to a $750M exit in under four years.** I joined as an early C-level executive, serving as CTO and Chief Learning Officer. I drove the product, curriculum and tech behind Trilogy's university-partnered bootcamps. Trilogy raised $80M+, grew past 1,000 employees, expanded internationally, and was acquired by 2U (NASDAQ: TWOU) in 2019. - **Designing blockchain systems at Consensys.** As a technical architect at Consensys, the company behind MetaMask, I designed smart contract and oracle architecture. - **Bringing institutional execution to long-tail Solana tokens.** At Mori I lead engineering, infrastructure and product, including production execution with an institutional options counterparty and automated USDC payouts on Solana. We brought the first-ever PENGU options onchain. I've traded BTC options strategies since 2020. I've invested $1M as an angel investor (pavan.vc) and mentor founders at 500 Startups and Alchemist Accelerator. I've taught at Barnard, UC Berkeley Extension, Northwestern and Rutgers, and I've spoken at Bitcoin 2019 and Blockworld. I'm building Mori because I believe everyone, no matter their size, should have access to the kinds of trades that only institutions could make with market makers in the past.

Pitch

Problem
Holders of Solana tokens have few good ways to earn on what they own. Lending yields have compressed, and options venues like Deribit only list majors like BTC and ETH. Long-tail tokens like PENGU have no options market at all. So holders either leave tokens idle, lend them for low single-digit yield, or sell and try to buy back lower. Treasuries, DAOs and funds face the same problem at size. They want to earn on their holdings and set the prices at which they’d sell or buy, without dumping tokens on the market.
Solution
Mori is building the options layer for Solana. It's a DeFi frontend with a CeFi backend: Mori custodies user funds and places trades on users' behalf through its own OTC account with institutional market makers. Today that's an institutional options market maker backed by Kraken, and the system is built to add more. That means no smart contract risk and no reliance on thin onchain orderbooks, the two problems that sank earlier onchain options. It also lets Mori list long-tail tokens quickly and at size. Covered calls (live): Holders pick a token, a sell price and an expiry, and get USDC premium upfront. If the price stays below the strike, they keep their tokens and the premium. If it goes above, they sell at the price they chose. Cash-secured puts (coming soon): Holders set a price they'd happily buy a token at and get USDC premium upfront. If the price drops below it, they buy at that price. dOTC desk (coming soon): Anyone can request options on any altcoin on Solana, HyperEVM, Ethereum or Base. Mori sources a quote from institutional market makers, so a token doesn't need an existing options market to get one. Because these are bespoke quotes, dOTC trades have higher minimum sizes and may have per-token maximums. First tokens: GRASS, JUP, MET and ORCA. Option builder codes (coming soon): Trading apps and protocols can plug into Mori's RFQ and offer options to their own users, earning a fee on every trade they route. Each integration adds distribution without Mori having to acquire those users itself. Companies interested in integrating include ImperialPerps and Orca.
Market
Mori serves crypto holders who want more yield than lending pays, starting with individuals and expanding to treasuries, DAOs and funds holding Solana tokens. The market is growing fast: onchain options now do about $1.44B in monthly notional, and premiums hit all-time highs in 2026 (Castle Labs). The closest comparable is Rysk, which runs the same model for HYPE holders. It grew from $50M to $182M in monthly volume in just five months. If Mori matches that on Solana, our 12% cut of premium would bring in roughly $2.8M a year. The dOTC desk and builder codes extend Mori from individual holders to funds, treasuries and every app on Solana that wants to offer options.

Traction

* $1.7M volume in October 2026

* Live covered calls on SOL, cbBTC, PENGU and jitoSOL

* First-ever PENGU options

* Production execution in place: Mori custodies user funds and places trades through its own OTC account with an institutional options market maker backed by Kraken, with USDC payouts on Solana

* In talks with funds and token organizations about which tokens to list next

Use of funds

Liquidity: 20%Engineering & Infra: 30%Growth: 20%Security: 15%Operations: 15%

Company-reported

Roadmap

  • Launch the dOTC desk with GRASS, JUP, MET and ORCA, then expand across Solana, HyperEVM, Ethereum and Base
  • Custom strikes and expirations
  • PUMP and HYPE options
  • Cash-secured puts
  • Win flow from market makers ($10–20M a month in volume)
  • Ship option builder codes with ImperialPerps and Orca
  • Let users buy calls and puts, not just sell them
  • Onboard additional market makers

Team

Pavan Katepalli
Pavan Katepalli Founder

Risks

  • Custody and counterparty

    The CeFi backend removes smart contract risk but adds custody and counterparty risk. Mori custodies user funds and trades through its own OTC account, so users rely on Mori as custodian, and Mori carries counterparty exposure to the market makers it trades with.

  • Market maker concentration

    All of Mori's trades currently go through one market maker.