The largest crypto exchange in the United States, Coinbase, will begin spot trading of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) in pairs with the stablecoin USD Coin (USDC) on its international platform from December 14. Before this, its users could only trade cryptocurrency derivatives, writes RBC Crypto.
How reported in the comments Bloomberg Greg Tusar, head of institutional products at Coinbase, the company thus intends to create for itself a more liquid market outside the United States, including for institutional investors. He calls the decision to start spot trading of cryptocurrency on an international exchange “part of an aggressive and extremely rich road map.” Trading on the Coinbase International Exchange platform is not currently available to retail traders.
Cryptocurrency derivatives, such as options, futures or perpetual swaps, are a bet on the future price of an asset, but spot transactions involve the direct purchase of that asset in the market. The Deribit exchange, which previously specialized exclusively in derivatives, also announced on December 13 the launch of spot trading of BTC and ETH paired with the stablecoin Tether USD (USDT) and USDC.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Coinbase in June for allegedly operating as an exchange, broker and clearing agency. Binance, Kraken and several other large crypto exchanges faced similar claims from the regulator.
Binance remains the world’s largest exchange for trading crypto assets, but its share of the spot crypto market is declining amid regulatory problems in the US and other countries. In November, Binance pleaded guilty to violating US anti-money laundering and sanctions laws and was fined $4.3 billion.
Coinbase launched a separate international exchange in May of this year in an effort to expand its presence outside the United States. Over time, it intends to list more crypto assets on the global platform and, as liquidity increases, open spot trading on the platform to retail investors. According to Tusar, combining spot and derivatives trading on one platform can significantly increase its trading volumes.
Source: Cryptocurrency
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