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Points of Focus
- CFTC registered Coinbase Clearing LLC as a derivatives clearing organization on Sept. 28.
- Coinbase said the clearinghouse will use USDC collateral and support 24/7 settlement.
- CoinMarketCap acquired CoinGlass on Sept. 25, expanding its crypto derivatives-data business.
Coinbase has secured US regulatory approval for Coinbase Clearing LLC, adding an in-house clearing entity to a derivatives business that already includes a futures broker and regulated exchange.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) registered Coinbase Clearing as a Derivatives Clearing Organization, or DCO, on Sept. 28, permitting it to clear fully collateralized futures, options on futures, and swaps.
Coinbase calls the unit the first USDC-native clearinghouse and said it would use USDC collateral with 24/7 settlement. The regulator’s registration covers the clearing status and eligible products, while the USDC and settlement features come from Coinbase.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Coinbase receives CFTC approval to launch its own US crypto derivatives clearinghouse.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) September 29, 2026
Coinbase adds clearing to US derivatives stack
Coinbase Financial Markets operates as a Futures Commission Merchant, while Coinbase Derivatives is registered as a Designated Contract Market. Coinbase Clearing adds the regulated entity responsible for clearing eligible contracts.
For fully collateralized products, Coinbase said the new structure allows it to create and settle contracts directly rather than relying on an outside clearinghouse. That gives the company regulated entities covering brokerage, trading, and clearing across that part of its US derivatives business.
The scope remains narrower than Coinbase’s full derivatives operation. Coinbase said it will continue using existing partners for certain products, including its margined derivatives business and planned single-stock perpetual futures.
CoinGlass acquisition adds derivatives data angle
The approval follows CoinMarketCap’s acquisition of CoinGlass three days earlier.
CoinMarketCap completed the deal on Sept. 25, adding a platform used to track open interest, funding rates, liquidations, options, and other derivatives data. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
CoinMarketCap has acquired CoinGlass, the derivatives data platform behind the liquidation heatmap, open-interest and funding-rate charts traders share every day.
The reason is simple: most crypto volume now trades in derivatives, and CoinGlass is where traders go to make sense… https://t.co/9u7fZlvzmi
— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) September 25, 2026
The two developments target different parts of crypto derivatives. Coinbase is adding regulated post-trade clearing, while CoinMarketCap is expanding its market-data business around leveraged trading and positioning.
CoinGlass was founded in 2019 and covers 28 exchanges and more than 2,500 instruments, according to CoinMarketCap. It serves more than 5 million monthly users and 10,000 API customers.
CoinGlass will continue operating independently under its existing brand, with its website, app, free tools, API, and pricing unchanged.
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