Coinbase Secures Full Derivatives Trading Licenses
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has registered Coinbase Clearing LLC as a derivatives clearing organization.
- Coinbase now holds all three critical licenses for a derivatives business, including exchange, futures broker, and clearinghouse.
- Coinbase’s new clearinghouse is the first to accept stablecoin USDC as collateral, settling trades around the clock.
- Single stock perpetuals on companies like Apple and Tesla will continue to clear through existing partners despite the new license.
- Payward, Kraken’s parent company, previously spent $550 million acquiring similar licenses for its own operations.
Coinbase has completed its derivatives infrastructure by obtaining a CFTC registration for its clearinghouse, allowing it to handle all aspects of futures trading internally. This move enables faster product development and reduces dependencies on external partners.
With this approval, Coinbase can now create and settle fully collateralized contracts directly using USDC as collateral, enhancing its operational capabilities in the DeFi space. Source
