In big news, top crypto exchange Coinbase can now offer futures contracts in BTC and ETH to eligible customers in the U.S.
This is because the National Futures Association has approved Coinbase Financial Markets as a registered Futures Commission Merchant.
Coinbase Financial Markets has secured regulatory approval from the National Futures Association (NFA), a CFTC-designated self-regulatory organization, to operate a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) and offer eligible U.S. customers access to crypto futures from its platforms.
As a result, Coinbase Financial Markets is now a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant and a member of the National Futures Association.
Notably, Coinbase will now be the first crypto-native leader to directly offer traditional spot crypto trading alongside leveraged crypto futures.
The crypto exchange hails the achievement as a significant step toward providing federal regulatory oversight over the crypto markets that protect consumers.
The path to approval began in September 2021, when Coinbase applied to the NFA to register as an FCM. In 2022, it bought FairX, a CFTC-regulated futures exchange currently known as the Coinbase Derivatives Exchange.
Following that, the Coinbase Derivatives Exchange successfully released nano Bitcoin and Ethereum futures contracts for retail investors, followed by larger versions for the institutional market on June 5.
Coinbase says it will share further information on how U.S. consumers can access the futures offering in the coming months.
As previously reported, Coinbase made significant progress in its ongoing legal battle with the SEC when notable individuals and organizations, including Senator Cynthia Lummis, the Blockchain Association, the Crypto Council for Innovation, Andreessen Horowitz and six law scholars joined the case as amici.