Coinbase May Jump Into Futures Trading If Approved By The NFA

Coinbase, one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, has filed with the US's National Futures Association (NFA) to offer crypto futures services.

The exchange claimed that their new offerings would help expand their services and also help in the development of the crypto economy.

“This is the next step to broaden our offerings and offer futures and derivatives trading on our platforms. Goal: Further grow the crypto economy,” Coinbase noted on Twitter.

Since the US regulators have been very passive towards crypto derivatives, there are only a few platforms that got approved to offer such services. This is mainly due to the high trading leverage that many crypto exchanges offer – something traditional futures are not subject to.

Coinbase's public debut was delayed by a couple of months due to an investigation by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The exchange was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing. However, Coinbase has been working with regulators to get approval for crypto derivatives. The platform has the potential to become a leader in the industry.

While the US is still cautious about the crypto derivative market, the world is starting to get used to them. According to CoinGecko's data, the market processed more than $143 billion in 24 hours. Binance, FTX, and Bybit currently have the most of the 24-hour open interest, with $10.1 billion, $6.8 billion, and $3.8 billion respectively.

Coinbase's plan to launch a USD coin-based lending product has been delayed after the US Securities and Exchange Commission threatened to sue the company.

Meanwhile, Coinbase sold $2 billion worth of junk bonds this week. Due to the massive amount of orders that poured in, Coinbase was able to increase the deal's size to $1.5 billion. As cryptocurrencies become more mainstream, more investors are looking to enter the sector. Coinbase is the second company to issue a junk bond related to cryptocurrencies. Its rival MicroStrategy sold $500 million of notes in June. Despite being able to cut its interest rate, the company still couldn’t get a rock-bottom loan rate.

With the rapid emergence of crypto as a mainstream mode of payment, it's time to start thinking about how to best utilize the opportunities presented by this new medium.