Coinbase stock perpetuals took center stage today: Coinbase has submitted two Securities and Exchange Commission notice registrations dated Sept. 1 as the crypto exchange seeks to bring single-stock perpetual futures trading to U.S. customers through its regulated derivatives entities. The company confirmed the filings in a Sept. 3 post on X, framing the move as part of a broader plan to expand its derivatives footprint inside the United States.
The filings distinguish between two separate regulated functions. Coinbase Derivatives, LLC filed Form 1-N, which allows a CFTC-regulated exchange to register with the SEC for the limited purpose of trading security futures products. Coinbase Financial Markets, Inc. filed Form BD-N, a notice for an eligible CFTC registrant to register as a broker-dealer solely for trading security futures. Together, the documents outline a venue-and-intermediary structure rather than approval to operate as a general-purpose stock exchange such as Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.
Regulatory mechanics behind the filings
Under SEC rules, Form 1-N requires the applicant to supply information about ownership, operations, trading rules, surveillance systems and disciplinary procedures. Coinbase Derivatives has operated as a CFTC-designated contract market since 2020, according to the company’s regulatory disclosures, providing the baseline credentials needed to file. Form BD-N, by contrast, applies to entities already registered with the CFTC as a futures commission merchant or introducing broker and holding membership in the National Futures Association or another qualifying association.
Coinbase Financial Markets is already registered with the CFTC as a futures commission merchant, a status that supports the BD-N filing and allows it to intermediate customer access to security futures listed through the affiliated derivatives venue. The CFTC classifies futures on individual securities and narrow-based stock indexes as security futures products, placing them under the joint authority of the SEC and the CFTC. Neither document shown in the announcement contains contract terms, and neither confirms final clearance for a commercial rollout.
Lessons from the international rollout
Coinbase launched stock perpetual futures for eligible non-U.S. users in March, with U.S. persons expressly barred from the product. The initial international lineup offered synthetic exposure to Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta and Tesla, alongside contracts tied to the SPY and QQQ exchange-traded funds, which track the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq-100. Coinbase also disclosed that the international contracts trade continuously, including during weekends, with leverage of up to 10 times on single-stock perpetuals and up to 20 times on the ETF-linked products, with positions settled in USDC and eligible for cross-margining.
Those specifications, however, are not guaranteed to carry over to any domestic product. Perpetual futures have no fixed expiration date and rely on a funding mechanism to keep contract prices close to the value of their reference assets, allowing traders to maintain leveraged long or short exposure without purchasing the underlying shares. Coinbase has not confirmed whether U.S. contracts would trade around the clock, settle in USDC, carry the same leverage limits or replicate the seven-technology-stock lineup. The company has also indicated that stock perpetual holders do not receive shareholder rights, such as voting rights, associated with the referenced securities.
Broader derivatives push and competitive backdrop
The registrations extend a series of derivatives-related steps taken by Coinbase during 2026. In May, CFTC staff granted Coinbase Financial Markets regulatory relief tied to eligible U.S. institutions accessing certain products listed on Deribit, the offshore platform Coinbase acquired. In June, the company received approval to provide U.S. customers with access to global crypto perpetual futures, a development Chief Executive Brian Armstrong described as the product of years of regulatory work to create a compliant on-ramp to a market that had largely operated overseas.
Coinbase has also expanded beyond the United States. On Sept. 2, the company launched 23 futures for eligible Canadian investors, covering perpetual and dated contracts tied to Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and 20 other crypto assets, with leverage of up to 10 times on supported products. Company market data showed Coinbase Derivatives with about $1.75 billion in 24-hour volume as of Sept. 3, compared with roughly $9.7 billion on Coinbase International Exchange, though those figures cover each venue’s full derivatives activity and do not isolate stock-perpetual trading.
The U.S. push lands while regulators and courts are still sorting out how to classify certain perpetual contracts. In June, CME Group sued the CFTC over the agency’s treatment of crypto perpetuals offered through platforms including Coinbase and Kalshi, adding litigation risk to the broader U.S. perpetuals landscape. Coinbase has not announced a launch date for the proposed U.S. single-stock contracts or identified which listed companies could serve as the underlying assets, leaving the timetable for Coinbase stock perpetuals tied to the pace of SEC and CFTC review.
The two SEC notice registrations mark a procedural step rather than a final green light, and Coinbase has not indicated when retail or institutional U.S. customers could begin trading the proposed products. Further detail on contract terms, eligible underlyings and risk disclosures is expected as the filings progress through the dual SEC-CFTC framework that governs security futures in the United States, according to the source at https://crypto.news/coinbase-files-to-bring-stock-perpetuals-to-the-us/. The proposed domestic rollout of Coinbase stock perpetuals remains contingent on that review.