US regulators greenlight crypto perpetual futures — long Coinbase as the big winner
The top US derivatives regulator (the CFTC) just cleared the way for crypto perpetual futures contracts to be offered on American soil for the first time. Coinbase is one of the first platforms positioned to launch these products, which have until now only been available on offshore exchanges.
Idea
Perpetual futures are the single most popular crypto trading product in the world — they handle more volume than regular spot trading on many days. Until now, Americans couldn't legally access them onshore, so all that trading volume and fee revenue flowed to offshore exchanges like Binance. The CFTC just changed that, and Coinbase is first in line to capture what could be billions in new trading fees from US customers. This isn't just a one-day news pop — it's a structural shift in Coinbase's revenue potential. Even while Bitcoin ETFs have been bleeding money, this regulatory win gives Coinbase a completely new business line that doesn't depend on crypto prices going up.