Deribit’s New Dubai License Unlocks Coinbase Liquidity and a Unified Derivatives Platform

The license was issued less than a week after VARA formalized Dubai's first comprehensive derivatives regime. Version 2.1 of the VARA Exchange Services Rulebook, published on March 31, 2026, and reinforced on August 9, 2026, establishes binding rules for exchange-traded derivatives including futures, options, contracts for difference, and perpetual contracts . The framework caps retail leverage at 5:1 with a 20% minimum initial margin, while institutional leverage limits are set by each VASP . Deribit was one of four exchanges — alongside OKX, Binance, and Crypto.com — that already held limited derivatives licenses under VARA's pilot program .

Spot Order Routing to Coinbase Exchange

Under the new license, most spot orders placed on Deribit will be routed to Coinbase Exchange for execution . Deribit remains the client-facing venue and retains its derivatives ecosystem, but Coinbase Exchange provides the underlying order book, deeper liquidity, tighter spreads, and access to hundreds of additional Coinbase-listed assets . Assets purchased through the upgraded spot trading can also be used as collateral for derivatives positions on Deribit, subject to regulatory approval . The upgraded spot product is available to retail, qualified, and institutional clients .

There are exceptions to the routing arrangement. Specific tokens — including BUIDL, USYC, and USDE — are excluded from routing and will continue to trade on Deribit's own infrastructure .

September 9, 2026: Coinbase International Exchange Migration

Coinbase announced on August 4, 2026, that all institutional clients on Coinbase International Exchange (CIE) will have their accounts, balances, and open positions migrated to Deribit on September 9, 2026 . The migration will consolidate Coinbase's global derivatives business onto a single platform powered by Deribit and Starbase, Deribit's next-generation matching engine .

Migration timeline and mechanics:

• Opt-out deadline: Institutional clients who do not wish to be migrated must close all positions and their CIE accounts by August 28, 2026 .
• Read-only access: Deribit subaccounts open in a read-only state from August 31, 2026, so institutions can verify access, generate new API keys, and confirm live mappings before the cutover .
• Migration day: Trading will pause for approximately 30 minutes during the cutover. All open orders will be canceled, and positions will be settled at the venue's mark price. After settlement, positions are rebuilt on Deribit via matched migration trades at the same reference price .
• API changes: Existing API keys from CIE will not transfer to Deribit. The CIE API endpoint will stop supporting trades after September 9, but historical data remains accessible for approximately 12 months . The new trading gateway is at drb.coinbase.com .
• Retail clients: Retail clients trading perpetuals through the Coinbase app or website (including Coinbase Advanced) do not need to take any action. Their accounts, positions, sub-accounts, and settings remain untouched, with the infrastructure change happening automatically behind the scenes .

After migration, Deribit will serve as the unified trading venue for Coinbase's global derivatives business .

Over 125 New Perpetual Contracts

As part of the integration, over 125 new perpetual contracts are being added, including options on stocks, commodities, and real-world asset (RWA) tokens like SpaceX . The Coinbase Technical Migration Guide confirms the product mapping: existing {BASE}-PERP-INTX perpetuals are migrating to the {BASE}_USDC-PERPETUAL format . New options and dated futures instruments are also being introduced alongside the perpetual expansion .

Broader Strategy: Unified Margin and Risk Management Under VARA

The strategy consolidates Coinbase's institutional derivatives infrastructure onto a single platform powered by Deribit . By routing spot orders through Coinbase Exchange and unifying derivatives under Deribit, Coinbase aims to offer clients a single venue for both spot and derivatives with unified margin and risk management, all operating under VARA compliance .

Luuk Strijers, Senior Director and Head of International Derivatives at Coinbase, stated: "This licence marks the moment the Coinbase acquisition starts delivering directly for our clients. By routing spot orders to Coinbase Exchange, we're combining the platform Deribit clients know and trust with the liquidity and breadth of Coinbase."

CFTC Context: U.S. Regulatory Clearance

The overseas consolidation was enabled by a foundational U.S. regulatory development. On May 29, 2026, the CFTC issued a no-action letter (No. 26-17) and related actions that classified certain crypto perpetuals as foreign futures rather than swaps. This classification permitted Coinbase Financial Markets (as a registered futures commission merchant) to route U.S. customer orders to Deribit via Coinbase Bermuda . The CFTC also approved KalshiEX's bitcoin perpetual contract as a futures contract on the same date, marking the first time a U.S. regulator approved a perpetual derivative product

Key Dates Summary