In short
- Coinbase has obtained a license in the UK to offer regulated financial services, allowing it to offer traditional tools beyond crypto.
- UK users will be able to trade on the platform for the first time, while institutional and professional traders will have access to crypto, equity, and commodity derivatives.
- The license adds to Coinbase’s existing UK e-money and crypto subscription and furthers its push to become an “everywhere exchange.”
Crypto exchange Coinbase has won regulatory approval to offer stocks and derivatives to UK customers, a major expansion of its offerings in its largest global market and its latest move to what it calls an “everywhere exchange.”
The exchange said on Tuesday it was granted a UK Investment Services licence, sometimes called a MiFID licence, from the Financial Conduct Authority, allowing it to offer financial instruments beyond crypto.
Business users will be able to trade on Coinbase for the first time, the company said in a wordswhile traders and investors gain access to crypto, equity, and commodity perpetual futures.
The UK approval furthers Coinbase’s ambition to become a leader “all exchange”a single app with crypto, stocks, derivatives, prediction markets, payments, and savings that rivals brokerage, banking, and fintech apps.
In the US, it became the first centralized exchange to offer crypto the eternal future and has begun rolling out stock trading, Kalshi-powered forecasting markets, and plans for tokenized equities. Recently he added storage and rental for UK users.
New UK laws
The license is close to Coinbase’s UK e-money license and crypto registrationa stack that the company said makes it the “most well-regulated crypto player” in the market. It comes as Britain is finalizing its biggest crypto law book, the FCA spread its frame at the end of June and the full authority is due in October 2027. Coinbase mentioned FCA research estimates that 7 million UK adults already own crypto.
For now, the results will only be offered to high-quality and high-quality traders. The FCA still bans the sale of crypto derivatives to UK retailers, leaving cash as a new product for everyday users.
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