Coinbase joined Kalshi, Payward, and Paradigm in asking the court to accept a brief supporting the CFTC.
- Coinbase CEO said that his company had been trying to bring equity traders to the U.S. for years.
- Coinbase had asked the CFTC to approve perps on individual U.S. stocks back in September.
- This came as Coinbase has been battling for the product in court.
Coinbase (COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong said on Friday that companies already in the market will not be able to prevent the launch of equity perpetual futures in the U.S. He also hinted at the return of the exchange’s Coinbase Pro platform.
Armstrong said those things in an X post outlining what he was going to talk about on CNBC before his time was cut short. Armstrong said that the company was trying for years to bring equity traders to the United States in a responsible and regulated way. Perpetual futures, or perps, are derivatives linked to the price of an asset that have no expiry date.
He also thanked Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael Selig. The two had “put historical agency turf wars aside to bring this popular product to Americans,” he said.
Coinbase asked the CFTC to approve perps on individual U.S. stocks in September. Armstrong said the products already trade outside the U.S. In his words, “The only question is whether America will win or lose here, and we intend to help America win.”
Trade Group Sues Regulator
Armstrong’s post arrives as Coinbase was battling for the product in court. The Capital Markets Alliance Association filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York against the CFTC to overturn its approval of single-stock perps.
Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) and Citadel Securities are members of the trade association. The group argued that the contracts are security-based swaps. Under that interpretation, they would fall under the SEC rather than the CFTC.
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni denied the group’s request for a temporary restraining order earlier this month. She said the group is likely to prevail on its central argument over which agency has jurisdiction.
The group is still seeking a preliminary injunction. Coinbase has joined Kalshi, Kraken parent Payward, DRW, Jump Trading and Paradigm in defending the regulator. The six firms asked the court to accept a brief supporting the CFTC.
Coinbase Pro Returns
Armstrong hinted at Coinbase Pro’s comeback, saying “Stay Tuned.” In June 2022, Coinbase said it would close down its original Pro platform and move those tools into the main app’s Advanced Trade feature.
Armstrong said in the same post that tokenized stocks on Base have over $5 billion in volume. He said he’s incredibly bullish on agentic finance, where AI agents make financial transactions.
COIN stock was down over 1% in overnight trading, after closing down over 2% on Friday. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around COIN remained in the ‘bearish’ zone, accompanied by ‘normal’ chatter levels over the past day.
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