Coinbase has secured approval to provide US users with access to global crypto perpetual futures. Coinbase’s chief executive says this has the potential to reconnect U.S. traders to a market that has operated primarily offshore for years.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the approval, after years of consultation with regulators and policymakers in Washington, allows the exchange to become the first U.S. platform to offer access to what he calls true global crypto perpetual futures liquidity.
In a statement published in
What you missed in the hustle and bustle of last week: Coinbase was approved to offer True Global Cryptocurrency Criminals in the US. This has been a years-long effort, and we are the first to bring this global liquidity to users in the United States.
Backstory: Over the years, cryptocurrency trading has moved offshore…
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) June 10, 2026
He argued that despite regulatory restrictions, a significant proportion of Americans continue to use offshore platforms through VPNs and other workarounds.
Armstrong also said enforcement of these practices is unusual and creates an unequal environment for companies operating under U.S. rules.
The comments come weeks after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Coinbase’s plan to offer cryptocurrency perpetual futures to U.S. customers. The approval, announced on May 29, makes Coinbase the first U.S. exchange authorized to provide access to the product that dominates global crypto derivatives trading.
According to industry data cited by crypto.news, perpetual futures generated $61.7 trillion in trading volume in 2025, accounting for the majority of trades in the entire crypto derivatives market.
Coinbase connects US traders with global liquidity
While traditional futures contracts expire on a set date, perpetual futures can be held indefinitely and use funds payments between traders to match the price to the underlying asset. The contracts have become a popular tool for leveraged cryptocurrency trading, but U.S. regulators have historically restricted access to them.
Coinbase said its newly approved structure will connect U.S. users with global liquidity through Deribit, the offshore derivatives exchange it acquired for $2.9 billion earlier this year. The company also announced plans to launch its own U.S. perpetual style futures product on July 21st.
Armstrong said the approval is an important step for U.S. capital markets, saying the changes will allow domestic traders to access the same products available internationally while staying within the regulatory framework.
His remarks focused on the liquidity fragmentation that has developed as offshore exchanges capture most of the perpetual futures trading. He said having U.S. participants in the same liquidity pool as international traders could make the market more connected than it has been in recent years.
“Coinbase is most powerful in the US, and the US is our largest trading market, creating an opportunity to build a global network effect around liquidity. We also expect that US traders will be able to use these products in a compliant manner with US companies, providing stronger customer protections.”
Armstrong specifically thanked CFTC Chairman Harry Selig and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins for supporting the regulatory changes that made this launch possible, adding that Coinbase intends to continue working with regulators in expanding compliant access to cryptocurrency trading products in the United States.
This approval further strengthens the series of initiatives Coinbase has introduced beyond spot crypto trading. Earlier this month, the company announced what it calls the first Fannie Mae-guaranteed mortgage backed by Bitcoin collateral, while Coinbase executives also recently joined Mastercard’s new AI payments network focused on stablecoin-powered transactions between autonomous software agents.
