The largest US cryptocurrency exchange has launched the Coinbase International Exchange, which will be open to institutional investors outside the US following tensions with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the past few weeks.
Institutional investors will be able to trade bitcoin and ethereum perpetual futures with 5x leverage, Coinbase said in a statement. blog post Announcing the launch of that exchange on Tuesday.
“As more and more markets move forward with regulatory frameworks to become crypto hubs, we believe the time is right to launch this international exchange,” Coinbase said.
Coinbase has been embroiled in a battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission following news that the exchange was served wells notice in March.
The Wells notice is a letter from SEC staff stating that the agency is ready to recommend formal charges to the five-member commission.
Coinbase said the notice covers Coinbase Earn, Coinbase Prime and Coinbase Wallet.
The Exchange replied to the Wells notice on April 19 in a 73 page submissionArguing that the SEC has “not followed the law” by allowing companies like Coinbase to register with the agency.
exchange separately sued the agency Last week to give a yes or no answer to the SEC for Coinbase’s rulemaking petition.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has repeatedly stated that firms need to register with the agency and has said that many cryptocurrencies are securities that fall under his agency’s jurisdiction.
“Rest assured that Coinbase remains committed to the US, but countries around the world are increasingly positioning themselves as crypto hubs with responsible crypto-forward regulatory frameworks,” Coinbase said in its post on Tuesday.
“We wish the US would take a similar approach rather than regulation by enforcement, which has led to a disappointing trend for crypto development in the US,” Coinbase said.
Coinbase’s International Move
According to Investopedia, the international exchange will allow institutional investors to trade “perpetual futures,” which are derivative contracts with no expiration date and are not permitted in the US.
“Creating a global perpetual futures exchange for digital assets will help update the financial system by making Coinbase’s trusted products and services more accessible to users of digital assets living outside the US,” Coinbase said on Tuesday.
“As more and more markets move forward with regulatory frameworks to become crypto hubs, we believe the time is right to launch this international exchange,” Coinbase said.
The exchange said bitcoin and ethereum perpetual futures contracts were listed on Tuesday, and are settled in USDC.
Coinbase said that these products are not available to retail customers.