- 1 The only publicly traded crypto exchange is expanding its future contracts offerings.
- 2 Institutional-sized offerings from Coinbase will contain 1 BTC and 10 ETH.
Leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase took a step forward with its recently launched Coinbase Derivatives Exchange. The company announced that the derivatives exchange is likely to start offerings by the second week of June 2023. There would be Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) futures in the offerings.
In a blog post on Thursday, June 1, the only publicly traded crypto exchange asserted that the Bitcoin and Ethereum futures will be “institutional-sized.” The futures offerings will have 1 BTC and 10 ETH per contract and will be available to institutional investors from Monday, June 5, 2023.
BTI and ETI futures, sized at one bitcoin and ten ether per contract, respectively, will enable participants to tailor their exposure to these growing digital asset commodities with granularity, allowing traders to seize opportunities in a highly dynamic market environment.
Coinbase has been offering micro-sized futures—nano Bitcoin (BIT) and nano Ether (ET) contracts—since last year. The contracts were successful and got wider acceptance among investors resulting in high interest and demand for such derivative products for institutions.
Coinbase noted in the blog post, “With the launch of these institutional-sized USD-settled contracts, we look to empower institutional participants with greater precision in managing crypto exposure, expressing directional views, or tracking Bitcoin and Ether returns in a capital-efficient way.”
Coinbase Aims for Growth in Derivatives Sector
Coinbase launched its own derivatives exchange in May. The crypto exchange acquired FairX—a Commodities Futures Trade Commission (CFTC) regulated derivatives exchange last year. After rebranding the platform as Coinbase Derivatives Exchange last month, it’s now going to offer institutional futures contracts.
The investors’ interest in the derivatives offerings resulted in the growth of contracts. CoinGecko data shows the total derivatives volume across crypto exchanges stands at $74.9 Billion in the last 24 hours. Spot trading stands at 21.6 Billion USD during a similar time frame.
Coinbase is among the leading crypto exchanges in the world. It recently announced its exit from the United States amid regulatory uncertainty and enforcement. The company received Wells Notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March. While introducing the derivatives exchange, the exchange firm clarified that the services will not be available for U.S. citizens.
The action followed the proactive approach of providing clarity to the financial regulator on crypto staking, which was under heavy scrutiny. Crypto exchange Kraken had to shut down its crypto staking services and had to pay a 30 Million USD fine.
Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.