Coinbase said on October 7 that it had completed the integration of Deribit and established the ‘Coinbase Global Exchange.’ The company plans to connect U.S. and international derivatives liquidity and roll out options, spot margin and unified portfolio features in stages.
U.S. institutional clients will access Deribit options and perpetual futures on Coinbase Prime through Coinbase Financial Markets (CFM), a futures commission merchant. Prime options trading will become available within weeks, and onboarding has begun. Options trading for eligible users outside the United States is also planned within weeks, while options trading for U.S. retail customers is scheduled for later this year.
In May, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Participants Division said certain Deribit perpetual contracts could be treated as foreign futures. It also issued conditional no-action relief for a structure in which customer crypto-asset collateral is held with Coinbase Bermuda (CBBM) and reused for that customer’s foreign futures and options trading. Any reuse must be based on the customer agreement and local regulations. According to the letter, if position liquidations and Deribit’s insurance fund are insufficient to cover a shortfall, Deribit may proportionally reduce the settlement profits of members who made gains during the previous 24-hour settlement cycle.
The unified portfolio feature accounts for offsetting positions to reduce required margin. Spot margin offers leverage of up to 10 times on certain major assets and up to five times on other supported assets, and in the United States it is available only to eligible contract participants (ECPs). In supported regions, global derivatives are offered by CBBM, which is regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA). Spot margin is a product of a separate affiliate and is not offered by CFM.
Coinbase Pro is scheduled to relaunch by year-end as a professional platform supporting spot, futures, perpetual futures, options and equity trading. The announcement did not provide specific launch dates for the new features.