Coinbase Subsidiary Deribit Secures Broker-Dealer Licence…

Coinbase-owned derivatives venue Deribit has received a Broker-Dealer Licence from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, allowing its spot trading orders to be executed on Coinbase Exchange. Coinbase disclosed the approval on Aug. 13, 2026, saying that buy, sell and trade orders placed through Deribit will now be routed to Coinbase's centralized order book.

The licence is one of the clearest signs yet of integration following Coinbase's $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit. Coinbase agreed to buy the derivatives platform in May 2025 for roughly $700 million in cash and 11 million Coinbase Class A shares, with the transaction closing in August 2025. At the time of completion, Deribit had recorded more than $185 billion of trading volume in July and approximately $60 billion in open interest.

Deribit has offered spot trading since January 2025 under its existing VARA Exchange Services licence. The new broker-dealer authorization provides a broader regulatory framework for connecting Coinbase's execution infrastructure while keeping Deribit's existing interface and derivatives ecosystem intact. The upgraded spot service is rolling out immediately, subject to regulatory requirements and customer eligibility.

One key benefit for clients is that assets bought through Deribit's upgraded spot service can remain inside the Deribit ecosystem and potentially be used as collateral for derivatives trading. That reduces the need to transfer funds between separate venues when shifting between spot and derivatives strategies. It also lets Coinbase extend its liquidity network to Deribit users without removing the specialized trading environment that has made Deribit popular among professional crypto options traders.

Dubai's regulatory push

The approval also strengthens Dubai's standing as a regulated destination for international crypto firms. VARA was established in 2022 and oversees virtual-asset activity across Dubai's mainland and free zones, excluding the Dubai International Financial Centre. Its framework covers activities including exchange services, broker-dealer operations, custody, lending and borrowing, and management and investment services.

Deribit FZE already held an active VASP licence for exchange services, including virtual-asset derivatives trading, with restrictions on eligible investor types. The new authorization is therefore an expansion of an existing regulated presence rather than a first entry into Dubai. For Coinbase, the development fits a broader strategy of building regulated derivatives and trading infrastructure beyond the United States, and it marks a significant operational step less than a year after the acquisition closed.