Coinbase lands UK MiFID license, sets sights on "everything exchange" 🍰

Coinbase has secured an investment services authorization from the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority, the firm said Tuesday, marking what it described as its largest UK product expansion since entering the market and advancing its vision of an "everything exchange" that combines crypto with traditional financial assets. The license allows Coinbase UK to offer equities and derivatives alongside its existing digital asset services, with institutional and advanced traders gaining access to perpetual futures tied to crypto, equities and commodities, while retail users will be able to trade equities. Coinbase said future rollouts will remain subject to regulatory permissions and UK market rules.

The authorization is granted under the UK's MiFID framework and sits alongside Coinbase's existing UK e-money licence and crypto registration, a regulatory stack the company said makes it the "most comprehensively regulated crypto player" in the market. In a statement posted on X, Coinbase wrote: "Today marks our biggest ever expansion of Coinbase UK's product suite. We've now secured an investment services authorisation in the UK, enabling us to soon offer both equities and derivatives. Another step to bringing the everything exchange worldwide." The FCA did not comment before publication.

UK retail access to crypto derivatives remains restricted under a 2021 FCA ban on the sale, marketing and distribution of derivatives and exchange-traded notes referencing certain crypto assets to retail consumers. The FCA has since reopened retail access to certain crypto ETNs, with the change taking effect on Oct. 8, 2025, allowing retail consumers to access crypto ETNs only if they are traded on an FCA-approved, UK-based Recognised Investment Exchange. As a result, equities are the main new product line available to everyday UK users, while derivatives remain gated to institutional and advanced traders.

The approval comes ahead of the UK's new crypto regime, with the FCA publishing its framework in late June. The regime will begin accepting applications in September before taking effect in October 2027 and will require crypto trading platforms, custodians, stablecoin issuers, staking providers and other intermediaries to obtain FCA authorization. Coinbase cited FCA research estimating that around 7 million UK adults already hold crypto assets, and noted that a quarter of UK adults who do not currently own crypto said they are more likely to participate under clearer regulation.

In the United States, Coinbase has become the first centralized exchange cleared to offer crypto perpetual futures and has begun rolling out stock trading, Kalshi-powered prediction markets and tokenized equities, while recently adding savings and borrowing products for UK users. The expansion positions Coinbase against brokerages, banks and fintech apps as it pushes to consolidate crypto, stocks, derivatives, prediction markets, payments and savings within a single platform.