The NFA has approved a licence that allows Coinbase to officially engage in futures trading. Recall that the company first applied to join the NFA in September 2021. There were almost two years of discussions and finally, Coinbase Financial Markets has officially received approval from the National Futures Association (NFA) to operate a futures commission management (FCM).
The role of the FCM is to buy or sell futures contracts, similar to the market maker function. The NFA is a self-regulatory organisation that has received the designation from the federal derivatives regulator to operate the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
With the approval, Coinbase became the first cryptocurrency company to provide derivatives and spot trading services directly to clients.
Coinbase Financial Markets CEO Andrew Sears said that giving U.S. investors access to safe and regulated cryptocurrency futures is a growth point and an extension of the company’s involvement in the crypto economy.
On the back of the positive news, COIN shares on Nasdaq are up more than 4 per cent to $82.49 at the time of writing.