Coinbase Aims to Bring Crypto-Style Derivatives to US Stock Market

Coinbase has filed registration documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to offer Equity Perpetuals within the United States, a move that could shake up traditional stock trading.

This is not just another story about Coinbase getting into stock trading; capital is betting on the possibility of crypto-native derivative architectures reversing course and consuming traditional finance core asset classes.

The concept of perpetual contracts has been gaining traction in the crypto space, with platforms like Coinbase and Kalshi offering 24/7 trading and high leverage. These contracts have no expiration date and track the spot price through a funding rate mechanism.

Coinbase's architecture works as follows: Coinbase Derivatives operates the contract market, while Coinbase Financial Markets provides regulated client access. The company has already launched equity perps for Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Tesla, Meta, and Google, as well as ETF perps for SPY and QQQ, in overseas markets.

The regulatory pathway for perpetual contracts is being opened up by Coinbase's decision to file applications with both the SEC and the CFTC simultaneously. The outcome of this litigation will directly determine the fate of perpetual contracts in the United States.