Coinbase Opens UK Derivatives at 50x Leverage — SkimNews
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- Coinbase is launching derivatives trading for professional UK investors with 170+ contracts spanning crypto, commodities, equities and FX, including perpetuals at up to 50x leverage that trade around the clock and dated futures capped at 20x.
- The rollout rests on a MiFID investment services authorization the FCA granted Coinbase on July 7, which cleared it to offer instruments beyond crypto and extends a March push that took crypto futures into 26 European countries at up to 10x leverage.
- Only professional clients qualify for the new products; the FCA has barred retail sale of crypto derivatives in the UK since 2021, leaving offshore venues as the main route for individual traders.
- Keith Grose, Coinbase's UK and international vice president, framed the launch as part of the firm's "Everything Exchange" strategy to fold crypto, stocks, derivatives and prediction markets into a single app.
- Coinbase cited industry data showing global crypto derivatives volume runs at 4.4 times that of spot markets, arguing professional traders are over-reliant on venues outside the regulated market.
- The derivatives launch lands five days after Coinbase added 24/5 US stock trading to UK users covering nearly 4,000 stocks, and six days after opening perpetuals to wholesale clients in Australia.
- The expansion is running ahead of the FCA's finalized crypto framework, which does not become mandatory until October 2027, while Parliament's Crypto and Digital Assets All-Party Parliamentary Group wrote to bank CEOs the same day over complaints that crypto firms cannot reliably open accounts.
Why it matters: The 50x leverage product is gated to professional clients because the FCA has barred UK retail from crypto derivatives since 2021, structurally pushing retail volume toward unregulated offshore venues. Coinbase is also scaling derivatives and equities in the UK well before the FCA's mandatory crypto framework takes effect in October 2027, betting that being the most comprehensively regulated crypto firm wins institutional flow first.
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