TL;DR
- The CFTC registered Coinbase Clearing LLC as a derivatives clearing organization, completing the three key federal licenses.
- With this registration, the exchange controls its own clearing chain and can settle contracts with USDC as collateral around the clock.
- Margin derivatives and perpetual futures on individual stocks will continue to be settled through the company’s current partners.
Coinbase obtained approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to operate its own derivatives clearing organization, thereby completing a set of three federal registrations that allow it to manage a futures business from end to end without relying on third parties.
With the registration of Coinbase Clearing LLC as a derivatives clearing organization, the exchange adds the third piece to a structure that already included Derivatives, LLC as a designated contract market, and Financial Markets, Inc. as a futures commission merchant.
Coinbase: The First Native USDC Clearing House
The company described the new entity as the first native clearing house in USDC, capable of accepting the stablecoin as collateral and settling operations 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Traditional clearing houses operate with cash and Treasury bonds and settle according to the banking calendar. Eliminating that restriction means a derivatives market can remain active during weekends without interruptions.
“For the first time we can create and settle fully collateralized contracts directly,” the company stated in an official release. Molly Abraham, the company’s general counsel, noted that the CFTC approval “completes the end-to-end derivatives infrastructure” of the exchange.
Not everything migrates to the new structure. Margin contracts and perpetual futures on individual stocks — including Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia — will continue to be settled through current partners, as Coinbase Clearing will operate exclusively fully collateralized contracts.
Market in Motion
Coinbase entered the territory of Payward, the parent company of Kraken, which in 2025 paid $550 million for Bitnomial to acquire an equivalent combination of exchange and clearing house registrations. Payward already deploys perpetual futures for U.S. clients on Hyperliquid, with Bitnomial creating and clearing the market.
On the other hand, the exchange announced a deepening of its agreement with Citi so that the bank’s institutional clients can accept stablecoin payments. The previous week it had launched fixed-rate USDC loans backed by Bitcoin alongside Morpho, and in August it incorporated tokenized stocks on Base for users outside the United States.
