The largest crypto exchange in the United States, Coinbase, today filed a new application with the National Futures Association (NFA) to be authorized to provide new financial services to customers.
Futures and Derivatives
This is about trading futures and derivatives. These are derivatives of, for example, bitcoin (BTC). Among other things, it is possible to trade with leverage. The name says it all; derivatives are derived from the underlying assets. Thus, no asset is acquired in this way.
Today, Coinbase filed an application with the NFA to register as an FCM → Futures Commission Merchant.
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 (@coinbase) September 15, 2021
According to Coinbase, this is a great new step to further expand the crypto economy. Should the NFA approve Coinbase’s application, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission must also give the green light. In addition, Coinbase also has to file a separate application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This last one could get interesting.
Coinbase and the SEC
Coinbase is currently under fire by this SEC. It recently emerged that Coinbase had received a so-called “Wells Notice” from this body. This is the standard procedure for regulators in the country to notify that the agency may have plans to sue a company.
This complaint would be about a new loan service of the crypto exchange which has not yet been launched at this time. The new service called “Lend” will allow certain Coinbase customers to earn annual interest through their USD Coin (USDC) stablecoins to lend.
Coinbase and the crypto community reacted with surprise to this SEC report. Nevertheless, this is not a good development for the company.
It is for this reason that the application for permission to start offering derivatives and futures trading to clients is anything but certain. In any case, Coinbase is not afraid, it seems.