The U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase;has announced that;its U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated Coinbase Derivatives Exchange would start offering Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH);futures;contracts as of June 5.
The products will be available only for;institutional investors.
The contracts will have a size of 1 Bitcoin and 10 Ether.
- Coinbase said the sizing is intended to allow institutional clients to effectively manage market exposure.;
- The firm cited increased institutional demand following the introduction of its nano Bitcoin futures (BIT) and nano Ether futures (ETI) contracts last year.;
- In May, Coinbase;also launched;a new Bermuda-based international;derivatives;exchange for institutional crypto traders outside the U.S.;
- At the time, the company stated that Coinbase International Exchange would list Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) perpetual futures, and all trading activities in the platform would be settled in USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin as part of the partnership with the issuer Circle.
- The launch of the international exchange followed the increased tension between Coinbase and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The company is currently in;a legal battle;with the SEC in which the U.S. regulator claims that Coinbase could violate the;securities;laws through its exchange and staking services, while the popular crypto exchange complains about the lack of regulatory clarity that it holds the agency responsible for.
- Over the last several months, many crypto exchanges, including Coinbase, Kraken, Bittrex, and Binance, came under increased scrutiny by the U.S. regulators, such as the SEC, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
- Another U.S.-based crypto exchange Gemini made;a similar move;in May, launching a crypto derivatives platform dubbed Gemini Foundation that would only cater to users outside the U.S.