Coinbase wins UK licence to offer equities and futures

Coinbase announced it has obtained a United Kingdom investment services licence that allows the platform to offer equities and certain derivatives alongside cryptocurrencies on its UK service. The company announced the approval on Tuesday and said future product rollouts will remain subject to regulatory permissions and UK market rules.

Under the licence, institutional and advanced traders will be able to access perpetual futures linked to cryptocurrencies, equities and commodities. Retail customers will be permitted to trade equities through Coinbase’s UK services. The firm described the development as advancing its vision of an ‘everything exchange’ combining crypto and traditional financial assets on a single platform.

The new offering reflects existing Financial Conduct Authority rules on retail access to crypto investment products. In 2021 the FCA banned the sale, marketing and distribution of derivatives and exchange-traded notes referencing certain crypto assets to retail consumers. The FCA later reopened retail access to some crypto ETNs, with that change taking effect on Oct. 8, 2025; retail access to those ETNs is limited to products traded on an FCA-approved, UK-based Recognised Investment Exchange and remains subject to financial promotion and consumer protection requirements. The FCA’s ban on retail access to crypto derivatives remains in place.

The licence arrives ahead of the UK’s new crypto regulatory regime, which will begin accepting applications in September and is scheduled to take effect in October 2027. The new framework will require crypto trading platforms, custodians, stablecoin issuers, staking providers and other intermediaries to obtain FCA authorisation.

Coinbase referenced FCA research estimating about 7 million UK adults hold crypto assets and noted a quarter of non-owners said clearer regulation would make them more likely to participate. The FCA did not comment before publication.