Coinbase Now Owns Every Layer of Its Derivatives Stack After CFTC Approval
Coinbase received CFTC approval for Coinbase Clearing LLC to operate as a derivatives clearing organization, giving it all three federal registrations needed to run a futures business end to end: a designated contract market, futures commission merchant, and clearinghouse. This lets Coinbase create, clear, and settle fully collateralized derivatives without relying on outside clearing partners, which it says should speed product launches and reduce dependencies. The company is positioning the clearinghouse as the first USDC-native one, using stablecoin collateral and 24/7 settlement rather than traditional cash-and-Treasury, banking-calendar-based clearing. That structure could support nonstop derivatives trading, including weekend activity. Coinbase said its existing margined derivatives and planned single-stock perpetuals will still clear through current partners. The approval also puts Coinbase on similar footing to Kraken parent Payward, which bought Bitnomial’s exchange and clearing registrations last year.
