TLDR
- Coinbase has received FCA authorization in the UK to offer equities and derivatives alongside crypto.
- UK retail users will be able to trade stocks on Coinbase for the first time.
- Institutional and advanced traders gain access to perpetual futures across crypto, equities, and commodities.
- The new license builds on Coinbase’s existing UK e-money license and crypto registration.
- The move is part of Coinbase’s broader “Everything Exchange” strategy, which includes the ~$2.9B acquisition of Deribit in 2025.
Coinbase has secured a UK investment-services license from the Financial Conduct Authority, allowing it to offer stocks and derivatives to British users for the first time.
Today marks our biggest ever expansion of Coinbase UK's product suite.
We've now secured an investment services authorisation in the UK, enabling us to soon offer both equities and derivatives.
Another step to bringing the everything exchange worldwide. pic.twitter.com/sns3IGRHHM
— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) July 7, 2026
The authorization was announced on July 7 by Keith Grose, Coinbase’s UK head. It sits on top of the company’s existing UK e-money license and crypto registration, which was granted by the FCA in February 2025.
COIN was trading around $267 at the time of the announcement, up roughly 2% on the day.
For retail users, the most direct change is the ability to buy equities on the Coinbase platform. For institutional and advanced traders, the license opens access to perpetual futures covering crypto, equities, and commodities.
Coinbase already offers stock and ETF trading to US users. UK users are now being brought into a product set the company has been rolling out internationally.
The company also plans to offer tokenized stocks backed one-for-one by US equities to eligible non-US users, products that would carry dividend rights alongside ownership.
Regulatory Strategy Over Years
The license is the result of years of deliberate regulatory groundwork. While the FCA banned the sale of crypto derivatives to UK retail consumers in 2021, Coinbase spent time acquiring the exact permissions needed to offer derivatives legally.
That contrast has a sharp edge. Binance is currently being sued by around 1,700 UK investors seeking £150 million (roughly $200 million), who allege the exchange sold them risky leveraged products without proper authorization. Coinbase now holds the license to offer regulated versions of those same product types.
Coinbase describes itself as “the most comprehensively regulated crypto player” in the UK — a claim backed by its stacked permissions across e-money, crypto, and now investment services.
The timing is also strategic. The UK’s full crypto regulatory framework does not take legal effect until October 25, 2027, with firm applications opening in late 2026. By securing investment-services permissions now, Coinbase can offer regulated stocks and derivatives well ahead of that window, building a customer base before competitors have completed their applications.
Everything Exchange Push
The UK license is one piece of a larger ambition. CEO Brian Armstrong has described building an “Everything Exchange” — a single platform covering crypto, stocks, derivatives, savings, borrowing, and tokenized real-world assets. The $2.9 billion acquisition of options exchange Deribit in 2025 was explicitly tied to that goal.
The UK now joins Luxembourg, where Coinbase holds a MiCA license anchoring its EU operations, as a major regulated hub for that strategy.
A UK user who once could only buy Bitcoin on Coinbase may soon be able to buy equities, trade futures, and hold tokenized assets from a single account.
Coinbase’s UK head confirmed the equities rollout for retail customers begins with stock trading, with further products to follow under the new authorization.
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