NEW YORK, March 10, 2026, 12:17 EDT
- Coinbase is now offering futures trading to eligible clients across 26 European nations.
- Up to 10x leverage is available on certain contracts, spanning both crypto and equity-index offerings.
- EU regulators are stepping up oversight of leveraged derivatives like perpetual futures, just as the launch lands.
Coinbase Global on Monday started offering regulated futures trading to eligible users in 26 European countries, stepping up its efforts to expand beyond spot crypto trading. The contracts are available via the exchange’s Cyprus-regulated investment arm, according to Coinbase.
This shift is significant at a time when Coinbase has ramped up its push into areas beyond its main trading operations, following last month’s unexpected quarterly loss that was driven by sluggish trading volumes. Over in Europe, investors are keeping an eye on how regulators will handle new crypto products under current investor-protection frameworks.
Coinbase rolled out a fresh slate of futures: dated futures alongside “perpetual-style” contracts, the kind that stretch expiry out to five years and track the spot market using funding payments. Everything settles in cash, not tokens. Some contracts will let traders lever up to 10 times their collateral, raising the stakes for profits and losses. Coinbase
Coinbase says its new lineup includes contracts referencing everything from bitcoin to solana, plus equity-index offerings. The products are launching via Coinbase Advanced across markets like Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
This launch lines up with Coinbase’s push toward what it dubs the “Everything Exchange.” Back in February, CEO Brian Armstrong put it bluntly: “The Everything Exchange is working.” That month, Coinbase outlined a 2026 goal—building out a platform spanning “crypto, derivatives, equities, prediction markets, and more.” Coinbase Investor Relations
The urgency around diversification has grown. Following February’s results, Zacks Investment Research stock strategist David Bartosiak put it bluntly: “It’s all about the company’s diversification and shock absorbers.” Coinbase had just posted a $666.7 million loss for the fourth quarter, with transaction revenue at $982.7 million and another $727.4 million coming from subscription and services. Reuters
Coinbase isn’t the only player here. Kraken, for its part, is rolling out derivatives to clients in the European Economic Area using a Cyprus-regulated setup, and One Trading points to its own EU-regulated perpetual futures. The contest in Europe’s regulated derivatives space is heating up.
The regulatory outlook remains murky. ESMA, the EU’s markets supervisor, flagged on Feb. 24 that many so-called perpetual futures may actually count as contracts for difference, or CFDs—leveraged wagers tied to price swings. That classification would drag in leverage limits, risk disclosures, forced margin exits, and rules to keep balances from going negative. National regulators still need to decide how to handle these products, potentially squeezing how firms market them. Coinbase, for its part, only said eligible users would get access gradually.
Coinbase slipped roughly 0.8% to $198.26 late Tuesday morning in U.S. trading. Bitcoin, meanwhile, pushed higher, gaining about 3.5% to $71,217.
