Coinbase Rolls Out Crypto Derivatives in UK With 50x Leverage

Coinbase has launched more than 170 derivatives contracts for professional investors in the UK, offering perpetual futures with up to 50x leverage alongside dated futures and crypto options. Eligible professional clients will progressively gain access over the coming weeks, the exchange said in a statement Tuesday. The contracts cover cryptocurrencies, commodities, equities and foreign exchange.

Perpetual futures make up the largest part of the offering, with 24/7 trading and the ability to take long or short positions. Investors can use the contracts for delta-neutral hedging. Unlike dated futures, perpetuals carry an ongoing funding rate. Dated futures offer leverage up to 20x and settle on fixed dates. Coinbase said the cost of holding a dated position is built into the entry price, not a separate funding rate.

Crypto options let professional clients trade calls and puts through single-leg or multi-leg strategies such as spreads and combinations. The exchange's interface includes payoff diagrams and a strategy builder showing profit and loss levels before execution. Access is restricted to investors who meet Coinbase's eligibility requirements and qualify as professional clients.

The rollout follows Coinbase's recently announced MiFID license, which the exchange said changed the range of investment products it can provide to UK clients and enabled the derivatives launch. In July, Coinbase secured UK investment services authorization clearing the way for equities and derivatives ahead of the UK's full crypto regulatory regime, which takes effect in October 2027. The company cited Financial Conduct Authority research showing about seven million UK adults owned crypto.

Coinbase described the new products as tools common in traditional finance for hedging and managing risk. The company pointed to the crypto derivatives market size, saying global trading volume routinely reaches about 4.4 times the crypto spot market. "Professional traders across key international hubs have often lacked access to a single, regulated platform for these tools," Coinbase said.

The UK launch is part of Coinbase's "Everything Exchange" strategy, under which the company has added stocks, loans, prediction markets and AI-powered portfolio management. In April, it introduced crypto-backed loans for UK customers, allowing eligible users to borrow up to $5 million in USDC against Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and cbETH. The loans are issued through Morpho on Coinbase's Base network and carry variable interest rates with no fixed repayment schedules. More recently, Coinbase began rolling out access to nearly 4,000 U.S. stocks for eligible UK users.

The derivatives expansion extends beyond the UK. In May, Coinbase opened derivatives access for U.S. institutions through Coinbase Financial Markets, initially offering Deribit crypto options. That followed Commodity Futures Trading Commission staff action addressing the treatment of certain perpetual contracts as foreign futures. In April, Coinbase secured an Australian financial services license, saying it would initially use the approval for crypto and equity perpetuals. In June, the exchange introduced pre-IPO perpetual futures tied to private companies, starting with SpaceX.

In its second-quarter report, Coinbase said 88% of net revenue came from sources other than bitcoin spot trading. The company also reported that its share of global crypto trading volume reached a record 10.3% during the quarter, up from 9.1% in Q1.

For the UK, Coinbase described itself as "the most comprehensively regulated crypto player." Its subsidiary CB Payments Ltd is authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority for investment services and under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011. Access will begin progressively for UK professional investors who complete eligibility checks and receive classification as a professional client.