Coinbase secures UK investment services license to add derivatives and equities trading

Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) has received authorization from the UK Financial Conduct Authority to provide investment services, expanding its regulatory permissions beyond crypto.

The authorization will allow institutional and advanced traders to access crypto, equity, and commodity perpetual futures, while retail users will be able to trade equities on Coinbase for the first time, the exchange said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the UK investment services authorization marks the largest expansion of Coinbase’s UK product suite since the company entered the market. The license sits alongside Coinbase’s existing UK e-money license and crypto registration.

Coinbase said the authorization is a step toward its “everything exchange” vision, which it describes as a single platform where users can access stablecoin payments, savings, borrowing, crypto, derivatives, and equities, with tokenized real-world assets planned for future expansion.

“We believe crypto is the foundational architecture of the modern financial system, and the gap between traditional and digital finance is closing fast,” the statement read. “The UK is now one of the first markets where users will see what that convergence actually looks like.”

Coinbase said it chose to deepen its commitment to the UK because the government and the FCA have built what the exchange described as a forward-thinking, pro-growth framework for digital finance. 

Per the statement, the FCA's research found approximately 7 million UK adults currently hold crypto, with a quarter of non-holders indicating they would be more likely to participate if the sector operated under clear regulation. 

A full UK crypto regime is scheduled to take effect in October 2027.