Coinbase Disrupts Crypto Derivatives With First-Ever Regulated Perpetuals—No More Offshore Roulette

Wall Street meets degens: Coinbase just flipped the script on crypto's wildest playground.

The Perps Come Home

No more sketchy offshore leverage casinos—the exchange launched US-regulated perpetual futures, offering 100x the legitimacy (if slightly less adrenaline) than unlicensed rivals. Finally, a place to gamble... err, 'hedge risk' without VPNs at 3 AM.

How It Works

Same 20x leverage, new sheriff in town. The product mirrors offshore perpetuals' mechanics but with actual KYC, anti-manipulation rules, and—gasp—occasional margin calls that get processed. Traders get familiar derivatives; regulators get a cut of the action. Everybody wins (except maybe Panama).

Why This Matters

This isn't just another trading pair—it's a Trojan horse. By legitimizing crypto's most notorious product, Coinbase just dragged derivatives into the light. Next stop: institutional adoption... or at least fewer 'funds stuck on FTX 2.0' sob stories.

The Bottom Line

Coinbase's move proves crypto's maturing—even its degenerate corners. Now if only they could regulate the '50% daily swings' part too. (Spoiler: they can't. This is still crypto, after all.)

A regulated answer to an offshore dominated market

Coinbase’s move is a strategic play to capture a market that has, until now, existed largely in regulatory limbo. Perpetual futures dominate crypto trading globally, accounting for nearly 93% of all crypto derivatives volume, according to Cornell research.

Yet U.S. traders have been locked out of this liquidity, forced to either accept clunky, expiration-bound contracts or take their business to offshore exchanges like Bybit and Binance, where regulatory oversight is minimal and counterparty risk remains high.

With its new five-year expiring contracts, Coinbase is attempting to repackage the perpetual model in a way that fits within U.S. legal parameters.

Unlike traditional futures, which reset quarterly and often drift from spot prices, Coinbase’s contracts apply hourly funding payments to Tether positions closely to market rates. Traders pay or receive funding every 12 hours based on long or short positioning, a system borrowed from offshore perpetuals but streamlined for U.S. compliance.

The nano sizing (0.01 BTC and 0.10 ETH) lowers the barrier to entry, appealing to retail traders who might otherwise avoid futures entirely. Critically, the five-year expiration is a nod to long-term holders. Most crypto derivatives require rollovers every few months, creating friction for multi-year strategies.

By minimizing expiration pressure, Coinbase is betting that traders will prefer holding these contracts over juggling quarterly expiries or risking exposure on offshore platforms. If successful, Coinbase’s initiative could pressure rivals to launch similar hybrid instruments, reshaping the U.S. crypto derivatives landscape.