Deribit to Route Most Spot Orders to Coinbase under New Dubai Licence

Deribit, the Coinbase-owned crypto derivatives platform, has received a Broker-Dealer Licence from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), allowing it to route most spot orders to Coinbase Exchange for execution. Deribit will remain the client-facing venue and retain its derivatives ecosystem, while Coinbase Exchange provides the main execution and liquidity for the upgraded spot product.

Deribit FZE previously obtained a VARA VASP licence for Exchange Services in January 2025, which permitted spot trading under certain restrictions. The new Broker-Dealer Licence adds a separate permission for the upgraded spot model rather than replacing the existing exchange licence. Under the new structure, most spot orders placed through Deribit will be routed to Coinbase Exchange, giving Deribit clients access to deeper spot liquidity and hundreds of additional assets listed on Coinbase Exchange, while Deribit’s own spot order book will remain in use for a small number of assets.

Coinbase acquired Deribit in August 2025 for approximately $2.9 billion, comprising about $700 million in cash and 11 million Coinbase Class A shares. At the time, Deribit was already a major crypto derivatives venue centered on options and futures, recording over $185 billion in trading volume in July 2025 and roughly $60 billion in open interest around the acquisition. Luuk Strijers, senior director and head of international derivatives at Coinbase, described the licence as the moment the acquisition “starts delivering directly” for clients, as Coinbase can connect Deribit users to Coinbase Exchange liquidity without moving them onto the Coinbase interface.

Coinbase said the upgraded spot offering will be available to retail, qualified and institutional investors, while Deribit’s regulated derivatives business in Dubai remains limited to qualified and institutional investors under its existing VARA permissions. Assets bought through the upgraded spot platform could later be used as collateral for derivatives trading on Deribit, but only after regulatory approval. Under the new model, Deribit keeps the client interface, derivatives ecosystem and fallback spot order book, while Coinbase Exchange handles most execution for the expanded spot offering.