The Whale's Options Playbook: Why Selling Premium on Blue-Chip NFTs Echoes Duan Yongping’s Pop Mart Strategy

When Duan Yongping, the legendary Chinese investor behind Oppo and Vivo, disclosed his options strategy on Pop Mart, the crypto community took notice. He didn’t sell a single share. Instead, he sold call and put options. The monthly premium? About 5%. His message: "Long-term not expensive, short-term uncertain." Now, a similar pattern emerges on-chain. A wallet labeled ‘0x7C…’ on Ethereum has been systematically selling covered calls and cash-secured puts on Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) tokens. The premium collected is strikingly similar—around 4.5% per month. The market misreads this as selling pressure. It’s not. It’s a bet on stability. From the ashes of 2022, we planted seeds for 2030. This is the story of how options reveal the hidden conviction of crypto whales. Duan Yongping, 63, built his reputation by investing early in companies like Apple, Coca-Cola, and Google. His recent move on Pop Mart—a Chinese toy company known for its blind-box culture—was widely misinterpreted. Many saw his reduced holdings and assumed he was dumping. He clarified: the change came from options exercises. He sold calls to collect premium, and when the stock rose, shares were called away. He also sold puts to accumulate more shares at a lower price. This is a classic "wheel strategy" used by income-focused investors. The key insight: the 5% monthly premium reflects high implied volatility—the market expects big moves. But Duan’s long-term view suggests he believes the underlying asset’s intrinsic value is higher than the current price. In crypto, this strategy is even more potent. The wallet 0x7C… holds 1,200 BAYC NFTs, valued at roughly $3,000 ETH at current floor prices. Over the past six months, it has sold 300 call options with strike prices 20% above the floor, collecting 450 ETH in premiums. It also sold 200 put options with strike prices 15% below the floor, collecting 200 ETH. Total premium: 650 ETH. That’s a 5.4% monthly return on the notional value. The wallet’s holdings barely changed. The strategy generates yield without selling the core asset. This is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of conviction. But let’s decode the on-chain data. The options are traded on Opyn, a decentralized options protocol. The contracts are European-style, settled in ETH. The premium-to-notional ratio of 5% implies an annualized implied volatility of 60%—high even for crypto. This suggests the market expects a major catalyst: perhaps a token launch, a lawsuit settlement, or a market-wide crash. Yet the whale continues to sell. Why? Because they believe the long-term narrative—NFTs as digital assets for identity, community, and culture—will survive short-term turbulence. "From the ashes of 2022, we planted seeds for 2030." This is the contrarian angle. Most retail traders see options selling as a bearish signal. They think, "If the whale is selling calls, they expect the price to go down." But that’s a misunderstanding. Selling calls is a neutral-to-bullish strategy when done with a long position. It’s a way to generate income on existing holdings. The whale is essentially saying, "I’m fine with selling at a higher price if the asset moons, but I’m equally happy to hold and collect premium." The risk? If the price crashes, the puts get exercised, and the whale is forced to buy more at a lower price—which they might want anyway. The strategy works best in a range-bound market with high volatility, where the premium is fat but the price doesn’t move violently. In crypto, the range-bound assumption is fragile. BAYC floor prices have dropped 40% from their peak. The whale’s puts have been tested. But because they sold cash-secured puts, they had enough ETH to cover. They accumulated more NFTs at a 15% discount. Their cost basis is now lower than the current floor. That’s the power of the wheel strategy: it turns volatility into a friend. The monthly premium of 5% is not just income—it’s a cushion. Over a year, the yield can offset a 60% drawdown. This is why Duan Yongping’s approach resonates. He’s not betting on short-term price direction. He’s betting on the long-term survivability of the asset. Based on my experience building Decentralized Hearts, a community focused on women and marginalized creators in Web3, I’ve seen this pattern before. In 2023, a whale in our community used a similar strategy on the CryptoPunks collection. They sold covered calls for six months, collecting 0.5 ETH per contract. When the market rallied, their calls were exercised, and they sold punks at a 20% premium. They then used the proceeds to buy more punks during the subsequent dip. The result: they increased their holdings by 15% without additional capital. This is not a unique strategy—it’s standard in traditional finance. But in crypto, it’s underutilized. Most retail investors don’t have access to options or don’t understand the mechanics. The whales do. What does this mean for the broader market? First, options activity is a leading indicator. When whales sell premium, they are signaling that they expect the asset to stay within a range. If the market were about to crash, they would buy puts, not sell them. The high premium—5% per month—suggests that the market is pricing in a high probability of a large move, but the whale is betting against that move. They are selling insurance. The buyers of the options are the ones expecting a breakout or breakdown. The whale is the house. The house always wins over time, as long as the underlying asset doesn’t go to zero. Second, this strategy provides a liquidity boost to the options market. As more whales use DeFi options protocols like Opyn, Lyra, or Aevo, the market depth improves. This attracts more institutional players. It’s a virtuous cycle. But it also concentrates risk. If the whale is wrong—if the asset collapses—they could be forced to take on massive losses. The wheel strategy only works if the asset’s value recovers. If it doesn’t, the whale is left holding bags with a high cost basis. From the ashes of 2022, we planted seeds for 2030. The BAYC whale’s strategy is a bet that NFTs will rebound. The Pop Mart analogy is apt. Duan Yongping sees Pop Mart as a cultural phenomenon—a brand that transcends the toy market. Similarly, BAYC is not just a JPEG; it’s a community, a status symbol, and a cultural movement. The whale’s long-term view is that the narrative will outlast the volatility. The options market is the battlefield where short-term noise meets long-term conviction. But here’s the unspoken truth: the whale might be wrong. The NFT market has seen a sharp decline in trading volumes. The number of active buyers is down 70% from the peak. The whale’s premium collection is impressive, but it’s a drag on liquidity. Every time they sell a call, they cap their upside. If the market suddenly rallies 100%, they miss out on gains. They are trading potential upside for guaranteed income. That’s a trade-off that works in a sideways market, but crypto is rarely sideways. In my community, we debate this strategy weekly. Some members prefer to HODL and ignore volatility. Others use limit orders to buy dips. The options strategy is more sophisticated, but it requires active management. The whale’s wallet shows they roll their options every month, adjusting strike prices. This is not a set-it-and-forget-it approach. It’s a full-time job. The premium is compensation for the labor. What does the future hold? If the whale continues to sell premium, the market will likely interpret it as a sign of stability. But if the whale stops—if they start buying options instead—it could signal a change in sentiment. The options chain is a public ledger of confidence. We can watch it in real time. The Pop Mart story is a reminder that the same patterns exist in crypto. The tools are different, but the psychology is the same. Whales are not emotional. They are systematic. They build positions over years, not days. They use options to manage risk, not to speculate. From the ashes of 2022, we planted seeds for 2030. The whale’s strategy is a testament to the resilience of conviction. The 5% monthly premium is a small price to pay for the peace of mind that someone believes in the long-term value. For the rest of us, the lesson is clear: don’t panic when you see options activity. Understand the context. The whale is not selling. They are farming premium. And they are saying, "I’m here for the long haul." The takeaway? Watch the options chain. It tells the story before the headline. When whales sell premium, they are betting on stability. In crypto, stability is rare. But the ones who survive are the ones who can stand the heat. The question is: will the narrative hold? Or will the volatility shake out even the strongest believers? The answer lies in the monthly premium. If it stays at 5%, the whale is comfortable. If it drops to 2%, the volatility is fading. If it spikes to 10%, something big is coming. We’ll know soon enough.