Consummation of an acquisition would greatly advance Coinbase’s push into the crypto derivatives market.
Updated Mar 21, 2025, 7:43 p.m. UTCPublished Mar 21, 2025, 5:56 p.m. UTC
Animal spirits in the crypto industry continue to be evident amid the eased regulatory stance of the Trump administration, with leading U.S. spot exchange Coinbase (COIN) in advanced acquisition talks with leading global derivatives exchange Deribit, reports Bloomberg.
According to the story, the companies have notified Dubai regulators (where Deribit is licensed) about the discussions.
Bloomberg earlier this year — alongside rumors that Kraken was discussing an acquisition of Deribit — reported Deribit could be valued in the area of $4 billion to $5 billion.
Mostly known for its spot trading business, Coinbase (COIN) would be making a big push into the highly profitable crypto derivatives market with a purchase of Deribit, which saw trading volume in 2024 of nearly $1.2 trillion — almost double that of the year prior.
Earlier this week, another U.S. crypto exchange — Kraken — boosted its derivatives business with a $1.5 billion deal to purchase Ninja Trader.
Stephen Alpher
Stephen is CoinDesk’s managing editor for Markets. He previously served as managing editor at Seeking Alpha. A native of suburban Washington, D.C., Stephen went to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, majoring in finance. He holds BTC above CoinDesk’s disclosure threshold of $1,000.
