Coinbase has secured Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approval for its own derivatives clearinghouse, completing a vertically integrated US trading infrastructure. On September 28, the CFTC registered Coinbase Clearing LLC as a derivatives clearing organization, authorizing it to clear fully collateralized futures, options on futures, and swaps.
The approval establishes Coinbase across the three main layers of the regulated US derivatives market: Coinbase Financial Markets as a futures commission merchant, Coinbase Derivatives as a designated contract market, and Coinbase Clearing as a registered clearinghouse. The company said the structure provides end-to-end infrastructure for bringing regulated products to market.
Coinbase said the clearinghouse can directly create and settle fully collateralized contracts with USDC collateral and 24-hour settlement capabilities. The company expects the infrastructure to support more efficient operations and provide greater flexibility to introduce regulated derivatives over time while reducing reliance on third parties for eligible contracts.
However, one of Coinbase's most ambitious planned products remains outside the new clearinghouse. The company will continue using external partners for parts of its margined derivatives business and for its planned single-stock perpetual futures, which remain under separate regulatory review.
The CFTC product record for Coinbase Derivatives showed its Single Stock Perpetual Futures Contract as "Approval Pending" as of September 30. The exchange filed the proposal on September 18 and said it intended to begin listing the contracts shortly after approval, subject to any additional regulatory requirements.
The filing proposes cash-settled perpetual futures tied to individual US equities and exchange-traded funds, with Apple serving as the representative contract. The contracts have no fixed expiration and use periodic funding payments to keep their prices aligned with the underlying shares. The representative Apple contract names Nodal Clear LLC, rather than Coinbase Clearing, as the central counterparty.
Coinbase described its new clearing infrastructure as capable of 24/7 settlement, while the proposed trading window for stock perpetuals runs from 8 p.m. Eastern on Sunday through 5 p.m. Friday. The split gives the platform more control over fully collateralized derivatives while retaining external infrastructure for products requiring different clearing arrangements.
