Coinbase cleared to link U.S. traders to global crypto perpetuals

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission on May 29 cleared Coinbase Financial Markets to connect U.S. clients to global crypto perpetual swaps and options. The company confirmed that options from Deribit are already available through the broker and that perpetual futures access will follow.

The guidance opens regulated access for institutional clients to the two product types that together account for about 80% of global crypto trading volume. Coinbase began onboarding prime institutional clients immediately, allowing regulated U.S. entities to trade offshore liquidity without creating separate foreign affiliates. The firm has not set a date for retail access.

Coinbase completed its acquisition of Deribit last year. Deribit currently holds more than $31 billion in bitcoin options open interest. Under the new arrangement, global liquidity will be routed through a U.S.-regulated broker-dealer structure rather than through offshore trading arms that many institutions set up to reach these markets.

Earlier this year, a U.S.-regulated perpetual-style product was introduced through Cboe’s continuous futures, but those contracts operate on domestic venues and do not route to global liquidity pools. The CFTC’s guidance follows its late-2024 clearance of a leveraged spot trading framework as part of a gradual expansion of regulated pathways for crypto derivatives and spot products.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong wrote on social media that U.S. users had been locked out of roughly 80% of global crypto markets and that the clearance closes that gap. CFTC Chair Mike Selig called the action “historic,” noting the agency permitted the listing of “a true bitcoin perpetual contract by a CFTC-registered exchange.”

Regulatory details for listing perpetual futures and the required risk controls will remain subject to CFTC oversight and ongoing coordination between the regulator and Coinbase.