Key Points

• Coinbase to acquire Deribit for roughly $2.9B in cash and stock, expanding into crypto derivatives.

• The deal aims to bolster Coinbase’s global growth and comes under a friendlier regulatory environment for crypto.

• Deribit saw trading volumes double in 2024 after attracting institutional investors following the presidential election.

Coinbase Global has agreed to acquire Deribit, the world’s biggest trading platform for bitcoin and ether options, for roughly $2.9 billion, executives told The Wall Street Journal. 

Shares of Coinbase jumped over 5% on the news.

A new era

The transaction adds to an uptick in crypto dealmaking, with President Trump and administration officials promising to make America a “bitcoin superpower” and usher in a golden age for crypto.

For Coinbase, the deal is a push into the highly profitable crypto derivatives market and is meant to bolster the company’s global growth, said Greg Tusar, Coinbase’s vice president of institutional product. 

“This will make us the most comprehensive player in derivatives,” Tusar said. 

The $2.9 billion deal price consists of $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase Class A common stock, the companies said. 

Deribit, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Dubai, offers options, futures and spot trading. 

Coinbase is the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. and has a market value north of $50 billion. The company currently offers futures trading in the U.S. and spot and perpetual futures products outside the U.S. 

Rising fortunes

Crypto executives and investors have been buoyed by a far friendlier regulatory environment under Trump, prompting a wave of deals. 

Coinbase rival Kraken in late March agreed to a $1.5 billion deal for NinjaTrader, a U.S. retail futures trading platform. Cryptocurrency firm Ripple in April said it would acquire credit network Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. 

Earlier this year, Coinbase reported a jump in quarterly revenue and profit from a year earlier, boosted by a surge in trading activities.

Deribit said its total trading volumes in 2024 almost doubled to $1.2 trillion, as it drew in more institutional investors after the presidential election.

Deribit would mark the biggest deal yet for Coinbase and the broader industry. Other recent Coinbase deals have included One River Digital, which became Coinbase Asset Management, and crypto brokerage platform Tagomi, now known as Coinbase Prime. 

Bloomberg earlier reported the two companies were in deal talks.