Contents
You read a number on this site. $4,000. 15.6%. $800. Fair question: where did it come from, and how much weight can it bear? This post answers that for every number in the journal.
What the document is
The yellow paper is the economic and operational specification for Dega, an onchain prop trading firm built on Lighter and settled on Robinhood Chain. It is version 2.0, consolidated and re-baselined, dated 22 September 2026.
It supersedes seven earlier documents, including the business plan, the launch decision brief and the vault model. Where any of them disagrees, the yellow paper governs. It is the specification to build against, and nothing in it has launched.
Three sections are binding on implementation:
- Section 2, the rules. Where any other surface disagrees with it, section 2 governs.
- Section 5, solvency and the risk framework, including the admission gate.
- Section 7, the hedge: how it is sized, the ordering constraint and when it must stop.
Four kinds of figure
Every figure in the paper is one of four things, and the paper says which. Appendix B lists every number with its derivation, and anything not listed there is not used.
| Status | Meaning | Example from Appendix B |
|---|---|---|
| Verified | Observed at a primary source, with the source and capture date recorded | Lighter's 1.2% maintenance margin on BTC and ETH |
| Derived | Computed from verified inputs, with the arithmetic shown | $480 expected per funded $10,000 account: 0.6 cycles x $800 |
| Policy | A decision Dega has taken, with the alternatives costed | The $4,000 lifetime payout limit: 20% of $20,000 deployable |
| Assumption | Not yet measured, named so it can be tested | Realised hedge cost |
Three sourcing rules sit behind the table, each because it was broken once. A competitor's rules come from that firm's own rulebook or checkout, never a comparison site. Its parameters are never copied. And a previous conversation is a hypothesis, never evidence.
The evidence baseline
The verified figures rest on a comparable firm's published statistics and another firm's pricing, both captured 22 September 2026.
The most important input is the pass rate a comparable firm achieves at $10,000. It was captured at 15.6% on 22 September, against 17.0% on 31 August. The paper is candid that the two readings are not statistically distinguishable at the published sample sizes, and that the source does not state the window its per-size table covers. It uses the latest capture and calls for re-capture on a stated cadence.
So 15.6% is the design pass rate: another firm's measured rate, not Dega's. Dega has no realised pass rate yet, and the paper requires the real one to be published accurately.
What remains unmeasured
Section 11 names what the paper does not yet know, on the view that a model with no stated unknowns is not a model.
- Realised hedge cost, and directional crowding when a trend makes the book one-sided.
- How long assessments take, which sets the reserve requirement.
- Repeat purchase for Dega: the 3.41 figure is a competitor's.
- Revenue per funded trader beyond the fee, which governs when the price falls.
- The realised pass rate at $25,000, and monthly operating cost.
- Demand, which sets the timeline.
The launch sequence has gates, not dates. The last gate measures one complete cohort, then raises one limit at a time.
Reading the numbers in this journal
Every figure in this journal is a design figure. It describes what the specification sets or derives, not something that has happened.
- A rule, such as the 10% target or the 6% static drawdown, is what section 2 says the build must enforce. See how the assessment works.
- A payout figure is a design setting: USDG settled by smart contract, with no discretionary approval in between, at up to $800 per person per day and a lifetime limit of 20% of the deployable reserve at the moment the account is funded, $4,000 at the recommended $25,000 seed.
- A statistic, such as the 15.6% pass rate or the 21.5% net exposure, is another firm's measured figure, used as an input.
- A derived figure, such as $480, is arithmetic you can check in Appendix B.
Every account described here is simulated: orders do not reach Lighter's order book, the balance is not your money, and Dega's hedge positions are Dega's own.
Nothing has launched. Every figure in this post is a design figure from the Dega yellow paper, version 2.0, dated 22 September 2026. Dega is not an exchange, broker, custodian or investment manager. Accounts are simulated: orders do not reach Lighter's order book, and the account balance is not your money. Dega's hedge positions are Dega's own, never yours. Payouts are subject to a lifetime limit of 20% of the publicly visible reserve and a per-user cap of $800 a day.
