Coinbase Gets CFTC Approval for Global Crypto Perps in the US

Key Takeaways

CFTC cleared Coinbase on May 29, 2026 to offer global crypto perps via a no-action letter.
Coinbase routes US perps through Deribit, the exchange it acquired in May 2025.
Armstrong estimates ~half of all perp volume was Americans using offshore products via VPN.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the company has received approval to offer cryptocurrency perpetual futures trading to users in the US, a development he says was overlooked in recent news.

The clearance came on May 29, 2026, when the CFTC issued Coinbase a no-action letter, a formal regulatory instrument in which the agency states it will not pursue enforcement action against a specific firm for a specific activity under defined conditions. Critically, a no-action letter is not a rule change or a blanket approval.

This setup is unique to Coinbase, considering its particular way of operating and the products it offers. Other exchanges can’t simply copy this model without getting their own approval from the CFTC. At the same time, the CFTC also gave Kalshi, a prediction market operator, the go-ahead to launch the very first Bitcoin perpetual futures contract created in the United States.

What Perpetual Futures Are and What Makes Them Risky

Perpetual futures, or ‘perps,’ are leveraged contracts that don’t expire, unlike regular futures which need to be renewed. This means you can hold a position indefinitely. To keep the price of a perp close to the current market price, a funding rate system makes regular payments between those betting the price will go up (long) and those betting it will go down (short).

For example, if the BTC-PERP contract trades at a 0.05% premium above the Bitcoin spot price, long traders will see a periodic deduction from their collateral balance paid out to short traders. This mechanism self-corrects the price gap without requiring contract expiry. The product’s appeal is structural: traders can express leveraged directional views without managing expiry dates.

While leverage can significantly increase profits, it also magnifies losses just as easily. For example, using 10x leverage means a price drop of only 10% can wipe out your entire investment. Shortly after a major launch in early June, a wave of leveraged trades led to over $1.6 billion in crypto positions being liquidated in just three days, mostly affecting those who bet on price increases. US traders new to perpetual futures on Coinbase should know that factors like funding rates, how leverage is managed, and the price at which your position will be closed remain consistent regardless of whether the exchange is regulated or not. While regulation can protect you from issues with the exchange itself, it won’t shield you from losing money due to market fluctuations.

Before May 29, 2026, US traders couldn’t buy or sell this particular asset on a US exchange that followed all the necessary rules and regulations.

The Offshore Problem Armstrong Acknowledged Publicly

Armstrong was unusually direct about the industry’s open secret. “If we’re being honest, probably ~half of all perpetual futures volume was Americans using offshore products via VPN with loose KYC controls,” he wrote. “Penalties for this were rarely, if ever, enforced, which was frustrating for us as an American company following the rules.”

Something that got missed in the noise last week: Coinbase got approved to offer true global crypto perps in the US. This took many years of work, and we’re the first to offer this global liquidity to US users.

Backstory: For many years crypto trading has been moving offshore…

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) June 10, 2026

Understanding the history is key to realizing why this regulatory approval is important. For a long time, US cryptocurrency traders have been using offshore exchanges because they couldn’t trade perpetual futures – a popular product for both professional and everyday traders – within the US. Exchanges like Binance, Bybit, and Hyperliquid became major players partly by offering these futures to US traders, even if it meant using unofficial methods. Because Coinbase is a US-regulated company, it couldn’t offer these same products and therefore struggled to compete.

How Coinbase’s Structure Works: The Deribit Route

Coinbase routes its perpetual futures contracts through its Bermuda-based entity, and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) classifies these as “foreign futures.” A key part of this setup is Deribit, the largest crypto options exchange globally, which Coinbase purchased in May 2025. Deribit currently has over $31 billion worth of Bitcoin options contracts open. The CFTC has generally approved Coinbase to offer perpetual contracts for any “digital commodity” currently traded on Deribit, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.

Collateral for Coinbase perps is held in USDC or USD within the Coinbase Financial Markets account structure. Positions are subject to a maintenance margin requirement; if a trader’s collateral falls below the maintenance threshold due to adverse price movement, the position is automatically liquidated. Coinbase applies up to 10x leverage on its regulated perp products, meaning a maintenance margin breach can occur on a price move as small as 9-10% against the position depending on the leverage used.

This means US traders accessing Coinbase perps are connecting directly to Deribit’s global liquidity pool, the same deep order books that professional traders outside the US have been using for years. Armstrong’s key claim is that this creates pooled global liquidity rather than a fragmented domestic market. “The US and international markets being connected instead of fragmented” is how he described the outcome.

For traders, the practical difference is significant. A fragmented domestic perp market would have thinner order books, wider spreads, and higher funding rate volatility. Connecting to Deribit’s existing global liquidity means US traders get the same execution depth as their offshore counterparts, without the VPN.

What This Means for the Competitive Landscape

The approval directly targets the market position that Binance, Bybit, dYdX, and Hyperliquid built during the years Coinbase was locked out. Perpetual futures dominate global crypto trading, and Coinbase’s route through Deribit creates one of two US-regulated paths for perps, the other being Kalshi’s direct BTCPERP approval as a Designated Contract Market (DCM).

Coinbase’s structural advantage is its US user base and regulatory standing. Armstrong made this explicit: “Coinbase is strongest in the US, and the US is the largest market for trading, so there is now a chance to build a global network effect around liquidity.” US institutions that previously avoided offshore perp markets due to compliance concerns now have a regulated domestic access point, one that connects to the same global liquidity rather than a separate, shallower pool.

The competitive pressure on offshore exchanges serving US users through gray-area access is now structural rather than just regulatory. A US trader choosing between a compliant Coinbase perp and an offshore Bybit perp is no longer trading off compliance against liquidity, they are accessing the same underlying market through Coinbase with full regulatory protection.

The Risk Layer Armstrong Did Not Mention

A separate flash crash in a Hyperliquid perpetual contract tracking SpaceX’s valuation wiped out approximately $1.5 million in notional value within 30 minutes due to thin liquidity absorbing a single outsized position. The CFTC’s clearance brings the product into a regulated framework, it does not change the mechanics of liquidation cascades or flash crashes in thinly traded markets.

If you’re new to perpetual futures trading, start with small leverage amounts. Keep a close eye on funding rates, which are costs associated with holding positions, and always set price alerts to protect against liquidation. While this type of trading was previously popular globally despite lacking US regulation, it’s now available in a compliant way, but that doesn’t automatically make it safe.

The information provided in this article is for educational and research purposes only. Perpetual futures are leveraged products that involve significant risk of loss including total loss of invested capital. This content does not constitute financial or investment advice. Always conduct your own research before trading derivatives products.

2026-06-11 10:14