Expansion Follows MiFID License Approval and Advances the “Everything Exchange” Strategy
Coinbase has launched more than 170 derivatives contracts for professional investors in the UK, introducing perpetuals with up to 50x leverage alongside dated futures and crypto options. According to a statement shared with crypto.news, eligible professional clients will progressively gain access to contracts covering cryptocurrencies, equities, commodities, and foreign exchange over the coming weeks and months.
Overview of the New Derivatives Suite
The new product offering includes:
- Perpetual Futures: Making up the largest part of the release, perpetuals feature more than 170 supported assets, 24/7 trading, long or short positioning, delta-neutral hedging, and leverage of up to 50x.
- Dated Futures: These contracts carry fixed settlement dates and offer leverage of up to 20x across commodity and financial contracts. Unlike perpetuals, they do not have ongoing funding rates; instead, the cost of holding a position is priced directly into the contract at entry. Completing the required onboarding for dated futures automatically unlocks access to perpetuals.
- Crypto Options: Professional clients can trade calls and puts through single-leg or multi-leg strategies like spreads and combinations. The platform’s interface incorporates payoff diagrams and a strategy builder to display potential profit, loss, and breakeven levels before placing a trade.
Access to these contracts is strictly limited to investors who meet Coinbase’s eligibility criteria and qualify as professional clients. The rollout follows the exchange’s recently announced MiFID license and previous UK investment services authorization secured in July, which cleared the company to introduce traditional financial products alongside crypto. Under these regulatory permissions, governed by the Financial Conduct Authority through CB Payments Ltd, Coinbase can offer regulated investment products ahead of the UK’s full crypto regulatory framework taking effect in October 2027.
Advancing the “Everything Exchange” Vision
The UK derivatives launch is a core component of Coinbase’s broader “Everything Exchange” strategy, which aims to combine crypto trading, stocks, commodities, derivatives, payments, and lending into a single account.
This multi-asset expansion mirrors international developments across other regulated markets:
- In May, Coinbase opened derivatives access for eligible U.S. institutions via Coinbase Financial Markets, providing clients with access to Deribit crypto options.
- In April, the exchange secured an Australian financial services license to support crypto and equity perpetuals, with plans for upcoming futures and options.
- In June, Coinbase introduced pre-IPO perpetual futures tied to private companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
- Locally in the UK, Coinbase has also introduced crypto-backed loans via Morpho on the Base network and rolled out access to nearly 4,000 U.S. stocks.
These expansions coincide with shifting revenue sources for the company. In its second-quarter report, Coinbase noted that 88% of net revenue originated from sources outside bitcoin spot trading, while its share of global crypto trading volume reached a record 10.3%.
