$2.9 billion acquisition officially completed, integrating $59 billion in open interest.
The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, Coinbase, announced on Thursday (August 14) the official completion of its acquisition of Deribit, the world's largest cryptocurrency options trading platform. This $2.9 billion deal includes $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase Class A common stock, making Coinbase a leader in the global crypto derivatives market.
Source: Coinbase, Coinbase announces the official completion of its acquisition of Deribit, the world's largest cryptocurrency options trading platform.
According to Coinbase’s statement, this acquisition integrates Deribit’s approximately $59 billion in open interest and over $1 trillion in annual trading volume. Deribit was established in 2016 by brothers John Jansen and Marius Jansen, and is currently the world's largest cryptocurrency options exchange by both trading volume and open interest, with a loyal clientele of institutional investors and seasoned traders.
Deribit set a monthly trading volume record of $185 billion in July, with a total trading volume of $1.185 trillion for the entire year of 2024, a 95% increase from $608 billion in 2023. Industry analysts point out that considering the global derivatives trading scale typically surpasses the spot market, the merged entity is expected to become a trillion-dollar company. Last year, Bitcoin and Ethereum futures totaled $31 trillion in overseas markets, with about $2.5 trillion on the U.S. CME.
Building a vision of an 'Everything Exchange' to provide comprehensive financial services.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the expertise of the Deribit team will be a key factor in building the 'Everything Exchange', enabling the company to provide industry-leading derivatives services globally. This acquisition brings Coinbase closer to its goal of offering a complete trading product suite on a single platform, including spot, futures, perpetual contracts, and options trading.
Coinbase stated that this integration will enable the company to expand its business globally through broader participation and deeper liquidity. Deribit offers reverse $BTC and $ETH options, reverse futures and perpetual contracts, $USDC-settled options, as well as various altcoin perpetual contracts and futures, including some spot markets such as yield assets and gold. The platform also offers DVOL futures, allowing traders to trade futures on the Deribit volatility index.
To achieve the vision of the 'Everything Exchange', Coinbase has announced plans to offer tokenized stocks and prediction market services in the United States. The company also recently launched decentralized exchange (DEX) trading features for U.S. users, allowing them to easily trade Base tokens, and plans to increase support for Solana tokens. Given that Base and Solana have recorded the highest daily token issuance, this is expected to significantly boost trading volume on the exchange.
Actively expanding through acquisitions, six acquisitions have been completed by 2025.
The Deribit acquisition is an important part of Coinbase's international expansion strategy for 2025 and is the sixth acquisition the company has completed this year.
In January, Coinbase acquired the blockchain advertising platform Spindle, which helps content creators increase online visibility.
In the same month, the exchange also acquired the team behind the blockchain online browser Roam.
In July, Coinbase acquired the Liquifi platform, which focuses on managing early-stage token startups.
This series of acquisitions reflects Coinbase's strategy to become a one-stop service provider for cryptocurrencies. The company currently offers a diverse range of services, including perpetual futures platforms, prime brokerage, spot retail trading platforms, institutional lending services, and customer asset custody, attempting to serve different customer groups within the cryptocurrency space.
Notably, Deribit founders John Jansen and Marius Jansen will exit the company after the completion of the Coinbase acquisition.
Despite completing this significant acquisition, Coinbase's stock price (NASDAQ: COIN) fell after the announcement. As of the time of writing, Coinbase's stock price was $324.89. The stock has been on a downward trend since reaching an all-time high of $444.65 in July.
Source: Google Finance, Coinbase's stock price fell after the announcement.
Competitors are simultaneously laying out strategies, intensifying the arms race among crypto exchanges.
Coinbase's expansion strategy is not an isolated case; major cryptocurrency exchanges are actively expanding related businesses to provide digital asset services for different target markets within the cryptocurrency space. Kraken announced in May that it would launch tokenized stock trading for non-U.S. residents, entering the tokenized securities market. The exchange also offers cryptocurrency futures trading, asset custody, staking, and OTC trading services for institutional clients.
Brokerage platform Robinhood provides customers with hybrid asset trading services, blurring the lines between traditional financial services and digital finance. The company announced in June that it would launch tokenized stock trading on a second-layer blockchain for customers in Europe.
Further reading
24/7 trading! Kraken to launch tokenized U.S. stocks, how is it different from regular stocks?
Buy even if not listed! Robinhood launches on-chain U.S. stocks, allowing you to acquire OpenAI equity tokens.
'Investing $2.9 billion! Coinbase completes acquisition of Deribit, taking the lead in global crypto derivatives.' This article was first published in 'Crypto City'.
