US regulator greenlights crypto perps for the first time — long Coinbase as it grabs first-mover advantage
The top US derivatives regulator just cleared the way for crypto perpetual futures contracts — a hugely popular trading product that until now only existed on offshore exchanges. Coinbase is among the first platforms approved to offer them in America.
Idea
Perpetual futures are the most-traded crypto product in the world, generating enormous fees for the exchanges that host them — but until now they've been illegal in the US. With the CFTC giving Coinbase the green light, a massive new revenue stream is opening up that no US competitor currently offers. This is a genuine competitive moat: being first to market with a product traders are already using offshore. The market hasn't fully priced in how much trading volume and fee income this could add to Coinbase's bottom line over the coming quarters.