The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved Coinbase to open its offshore crypto perpetual contract market to U.S. customers. Through its subsidiary Deribit, Coinbase becomes the first U.S. exchange to receive this license, expanding access for U.S. users to the global crypto derivatives market.
Access provided via Deribit
Reports indicate that Coinbase will provide its US customers with access to global crypto perpetual contract trading through Deribit, an offshore crypto options and derivatives platform acquired by Coinbase last year for $2.9 billion.
Perpetual contracts have no expiration date and typically allow traders to leverage their bets. These products are actively traded, but are also more prone to triggering forced liquidations and cascading liquidations during periods of high market volatility.
It can cover a wide range of digital goods
Sources familiar with the matter say Coinbase has not yet determined which assets will be included in its initial perpetual contract offerings. However, the CFTC has already granted it access to Deribit's "digital goods" perpetual contracts.
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Solana, Dogecoin, and Trump tokens
Ultimately, Coinbase will have the authority to select which assets will be made available to US customers.
CFTC issues clearance document
On Thursday, Coinbase sent a letter to the CFTC requesting a "no-action letter," meaning that no enforcement action would be taken against it in connection with its business operations. Less than 24 hours later, the CFTC responded with a 16-page document outlining new policies that would allow the business to continue.
This document not only paved the way for Coinbase but also provides a regulatory path for other US exchanges. The market widely expects more US platforms to follow suit and launch similar products.
The sustainable market is huge.
According to DeFi Llama data cited in the article, the trading volume of crypto perpetual contracts exceeded $588 billion in the past month; during the same period, the trading volume of the entire DeFi ecosystem was approximately $160 billion, indicating that the derivatives market remains one of the core segments of crypto trading.
High trading volume also comes with higher risks. The report mentioned that during a short period of sharp volatility last fall, approximately $19 billion in crypto positions were wiped out within minutes, with leveraged liquidation being one of the main reasons.
Kalshi was approved on the same day.
In addition to Coinbase, prediction market platform Kalshi also received approval from the CFTC on the same day to launch its own Bitcoin perpetual futures product in the United States. This means that the development of domestically produced crypto perpetual products in the United States is also progressing simultaneously.
