Coinbase launches UK derivatives with 170 contracts for professional investors

Coinbase is rolling out derivatives for UK professional investors, offering more than 170 contracts across crypto, commodities, equities and foreign exchange.

"Institutions rarely trade derivatives in isolation, but use them as part of broader strategies," Keith Grose, head of international at Coinbase, said.

Perpetuals trade around the clock with leverage up to 50x, while dated futures offer fixed settlement dates and leverage up to 20x. The options offering is limited to crypto and includes calls, puts and multi-leg strategies. Access begins progressively over the coming weeks and is restricted to investors classified as professional clients under UK rules.

The launch follows Coinbase's recently secured MiFID license, which the company said enables it to offer derivatives contracts in the UK. It extends the exchange's "Everything Exchange" strategy, which has expanded beyond crypto trading into equities, stablecoins, savings and borrowing products. Last week, Coinbase began rolling out access to nearly 4,000 US stocks for eligible UK users.

In its second-quarter report, Coinbase said 88 percent of net revenue came from sources other than bitcoin spot trading, while its global crypto trading volume share reached a record 10.3 percent, up from 9.1 percent in the first quarter. The UK expansion follows the MiFID license, which Coinbase said broadened its permissions to offer derivatives for professional traders and equities for retail investors.

Coinbase describes itself as "the most comprehensively regulated crypto player" in the UK market. Its UK regulatory disclosures state that CB Payments Ltd is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for investment services and is also authorized under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 for issuing electronic money.

The derivatives rollout puts Coinbase in direct competition with established crypto derivatives venues such as Deribit and Binance, which have long dominated the perpetuals market. By pairing derivatives with the equities and stablecoin products it has added in the UK, Coinbase is seeking to capture a larger share of professional trading flows that have historically been split across multiple platforms. The company's push into institutional derivatives also comes as it diversifies revenue away from spot bitcoin trading, with the UK market serving as a test bed for its broader multi-asset ambitions.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.