Coinbase eyes April launch for XRP futures, files CFTC application

Coinbase plans to introduce futures contracts for Ripple’s XRP token and has filed with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to get the green light.

The April 3 filing, made by Coinbase Derivatives LLC, is a self-certification submitted to the CFTC under Rule 40.2(a). It outlines a new cash-settled monthly contract set to launch on April 21, pending regulatory approval. 

Each contract, trading under the symbol XRL, will represent 10,000 XRP, roughly $20,000 at current market prices, assuming XRP holds near the $2.00 mark.

The move was announced by Coinbase Institutional, the exchange’s platform tailored for professional and institutional traders. In a statement posted on April 3, the firm said the product will offer a “regulated, capital-efficient way to gain exposure” to one of the most liquid digital assets in the market.

According to the filing, Coinbase will list three monthly contracts at a time. The product will be margined and USD-settled, with trading hours set from 5:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT, Sunday through Friday. A one-hour break will occur each weekday between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. CT.

Contracts will settle against the MarketVector Coinbase XRP benchmark index — an hourly reference rate based on volume-weighted median prices sourced from Coinbase’s own spot market.

Coinbase noted that it has consulted Futures Commission Merchants and other market participants who support the introduction of XRP futures on its platform.

XRP’s price, however, remained largely flat following the news. The lack of market reaction may be explained by the fact that XRP futures are not new to crypto traders. Major platforms like Binance, OKX, Bybit, and BitMEX have long offered similar contracts to global users.

As previously reported by crypto.news, Coinbase Institutional recently open-sourced its multi-party computation cryptography library in a move to boost security across the crypto space. 

The tools, which help sign transactions without revealing private keys, are now available on GitHub, along with documentation for developers looking to integrate MPC into their systems.

These efforts come at a time when the exchange is navigating broader market challenges.

Coinbase stock (NASDAQ: COIN) dropped 31% in Q1, its worst quarter since the FTX collapse, amid declining trading activity across the crypto sector. At the time of writing, COIN had slipped over 8% in the past week according to data from Google Finance.