Coinbase Wins CFTC Clearing Approval, Completes End-to-End Derivatives Stack

Coinbase received CFTC registration for Coinbase Clearing LLC as a derivatives clearing organization on Monday, September 28, 2026, completing a trifecta of federal licenses that lets the exchange clear its own derivatives trades. The approval adds to Coinbase Derivatives LLC's designated contract market status and Coinbase Financial Markets Inc.'s futures commission merchant registration. Coinbase said the clearinghouse is the first to accept USDC as collateral and settle 24 hours a day, eliminating weekend trading halts tied to the banking calendar. Fully collateralized contracts will clear in-house; margined products and planned single-stock perpetuals on Apple, Tesla and Nvidia will continue through existing partners. The move follows Kraken parent Payward's $550 million acquisition of Bitnomial last year for the same license combination. Coinbase also expanded a Citi partnership Monday allowing institutional clients to accept stablecoin payments, after launching fixed-rate USDC loans with Morpho and tokenized stocks on Base.