Coinbase Financial Markets, Inc. has secured regulatory approval from the National Futures Association (NFA), a CFTC-designated self-regulatory organization, to operate a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) and offer eligible US customers access to crypto futures.
Regulation and transparency are critical and build confidence for individual customers and institutions, and access to a CFTC-regulated crypto derivatives market is essential to unlocking significant growth and enabling broader participation in the cryptoeconomy, according to Greg Tusar, Vice President, Institutional Product for Coinbase.
In September 2021, Coinbase Financial Markets filed an application with the NFA to register as an FCM.
The team has worked with regulators since then to ensure Coinbase will comply with all the necessary regulations and that their FCM’s business model meets the CFTC’s customer protection requirements.
Coinbase Financial Markets believes this is a “watershed moment to be able to bring regulated crypto derivatives products to US customers”, Tusar said.
“Where regulations are clear and sensible, Coinbase Financial Markets and our affiliates will work with regulators to receive the authorizations needed to offer products that align with our purpose of using crypto to update the financial system to advance economic freedom and opportunity,” Tusar wrote in the company’s blog.
“We support this purpose by always seeking to build the most trusted and secure products and services,” he said.
The approval will allow eligible US customers to access regulated derivatives products through Coinbase Financial Markets, subject to the oversight of the CFTC and the NFA.
Approval for US customers to access regulated crypto derivatives will allow more people to access the cryptoeconomy in the United States in a “safe way that helps keep the US at the center of digital innovation”, according to Tusar.
Obtaining FCM approval for Coinbase Financial Markets was the next step in bringing transparent and secure derivatives markets to customers so they can access regulated futures contracts.
