Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume in the United States, has announced the acquisition of derivatives exchange FairX. This acquisition will reportedly help COINBASE to tap into the emerging derivatives trading market.
Coinbase described the development as “a key stepping stone on [our] path to offer crypto derivatives to retail and institutional customers in the US.” Additionally, FairX’s existing partner ecosystem will serve as a launchpad that Coinbase can initially leverage from to its US customers. FairX is currently regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
In the announcement, Coinbase commended the antecedents of FairX, calling it “a world-class team with deep expertise across product development, market structure, and compliance to Coinbase.”
Coinbase also suggested that this initiative with FairX intends to make the derivatives market more accessible to countless retail customers. One way the leading exchange hopes to achieve this is by providing an easy-to-use and seamless user experience.
Presently, only a handful of exchanges permit US investors to trade bitcoin and ether futures. In addition, the most popular and longest-tenured products among these offerings are cash-settled products. Coinbase touched on this saying:
“The development of a transparent derivatives market is a critical inflection point for any asset class and we believe it will unlock further participation in the cryptoeconomy for retail and institutional investors alike.”
