Key Points
- The Financial Conduct Authority has approved Coinbase to provide equities and derivatives services in the United Kingdom.
- British retail customers can now access stock trading through the Coinbase platform for the first time.
- Advanced and institutional traders receive access to perpetual futures spanning cryptocurrencies, stocks, and commodities.
- This authorization complements Coinbase’s pre-existing UK e-money license and cryptocurrency registration.
- The expansion aligns with Coinbase’s comprehensive “Everything Exchange” vision, reinforced by the approximately $2.9B Deribit purchase in 2025.
Coinbase has obtained a UK investment-services authorization from the Financial Conduct Authority, enabling the platform to provide stock and derivatives trading to users in Britain.
Keith Grose, who leads Coinbase’s UK operations, revealed the authorization on July 7. This approval complements the platform’s current UK e-money license and cryptocurrency registration, which the FCA issued in February 2025.
Shares of COIN were hovering near $267 when the news broke, showing an approximate 2% increase for the trading session.
Retail customers will experience the most immediate impact through the introduction of equity purchases on the Coinbase platform. Meanwhile, institutional clients and sophisticated traders gain entry to perpetual futures markets encompassing digital assets, stocks, and commodities.
The platform already provides stock and ETF trading capabilities to American customers. British users are now joining a product ecosystem that the company has been expanding across international markets.
Additionally, Coinbase intends to introduce tokenized stocks for qualified non-US customers, with each token representing ownership of an underlying US equity on a one-to-one basis, including dividend entitlements.
Multi-Year Regulatory Approach
This license represents the culmination of extensive regulatory preparation spanning multiple years. Despite the FCA’s 2021 prohibition on selling crypto derivatives to UK retail investors, Coinbase methodically obtained the necessary authorizations to offer derivatives within legal parameters.
The contrast carries significant implications. Binance currently faces litigation from approximately 1,700 UK investors pursuing £150 million (about $200 million), alleging the platform sold them high-risk leveraged instruments without appropriate authorization. Coinbase now possesses the credentials to provide regulated alternatives to those identical product categories.
Coinbase positions itself as “the most comprehensively regulated crypto player” in the UK—an assertion supported by its layered authorizations spanning e-money, cryptocurrency, and investment services.
The timing carries strategic importance. The UK’s comprehensive crypto regulatory framework won’t become legally enforceable until October 25, 2027, with firm application processes beginning in late 2026. By obtaining investment-services authorizations immediately, Coinbase can deliver regulated stock and derivatives products significantly before that timeline, cultivating a user base while competitors navigate their application procedures.
Comprehensive Exchange Vision
The UK authorization represents one component of a broader strategic objective. CEO Brian Armstrong has articulated plans for an “Everything Exchange”—a unified platform encompassing cryptocurrencies, equities, derivatives, savings products, lending services, and tokenized real-world assets. The $2.9 billion Deribit options exchange acquisition in 2025 directly supported this vision.
The UK now stands alongside Luxembourg, where Coinbase maintains a MiCA license serving as the foundation for EU operations, as a critical regulated jurisdiction for this strategy.
A UK customer previously limited to Bitcoin purchases on Coinbase may soon conduct equity transactions, execute futures trades, and maintain tokenized assets within a unified account.
Coinbase’s UK leadership confirmed that the retail customer equity rollout commences with stock trading functionality, with additional products forthcoming under the new authorization.
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