Blockchain.com Launches Crypto Options Trading With $5…

Blockchain.com introduced call and put options on seven cryptocurrencies on October 20, giving eligible customers in supported jurisdictions a short-term way to trade price direction. Contracts are paid for in USDC, carry a minimum premium of $5 before fees, and run for no longer than one week. The lineup covers bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), solana (SOL), Hyperliquid (HYPE), avalanche (AVAX), XRP and TRON (TRX).

Buyers select a coin, a direction, a target price, an expiry date and the amount they want to spend. The platform then converts those choices into a call or a put and shows the strike, premium, charges and possible payout before the order is confirmed; quotes stay valid for 30 seconds. No margin is required, so the most a buyer can lose is the total cost paid upfront. Calls pay out when the settlement price finishes above the strike and puts when it finishes below, with the amount tied to how far the price moves past the strike and to the contract's notional exposure rather than to whether a target is simply touched.

No secondary market

The defining limitation is that positions must be held to expiration. Customers cannot sell, transfer or voluntarily close a contract early, so a call that gains value during a rally gives back that gain if the market reverses before settlement, and a losing position cannot be sold to salvage remaining time value. Blockchain.com retains the right to terminate contracts in exceptional circumstances such as pricing errors or regulatory restrictions, but buyers have no equivalent option. The structure caps losses without offering any way to adjust a trade once it is open.

Costs also shape the outcome. Blockchain.com's documentation lists an upfront premium fee plus a settlement fee whenever a contract's gross payout exceeds the premium originally paid, and the quoted premium embeds a spread that is not broken out separately. Finishing in the money therefore does not guarantee a profit: a payout can be positive and still leave the buyer net down once all charges are applied. Options expire at 08:00 UTC on the chosen date, settle against a designated reference venue's price, which may differ from quotes on other exchanges, and pay out in USDC, potentially with settlement delays.

The launch widens a derivatives offering that already gives selected international users access to Polymarket prediction markets and Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures, which Blockchain.com added in April. On October 13 the company said it had applied to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for designated contract market status and for registration as a futures commission merchant. Those filings are applications, not approvals, and do not mean the new options are open to U.S. traders. Blockchain.com has also outlined a tokenized-securities project with the NYSE, subject to approvals.