Tonight, Coinbase was supposed to announce its Q1 2025 financial report, but the market first received news of its acquisition of the largest crypto options platform, Deribit.

On May 8, the leading U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase officially announced its acquisition of the leading cryptocurrency options trading platform, Deribit. This acquisition aims to integrate spot, futures, and options trading businesses to build a more comprehensive cryptocurrency asset trading ecosystem. According to the official announcement, the total acquisition price is approximately $2.9 billion, which includes $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase Class A common stock. The final transaction price will be adjusted according to customary practices and is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Coinbase emphasized in its statement that through the acquisition of Deribit, the company will leap to become a leader in the global crypto derivatives space, measured by open interest and options trading volume. Deribit currently has approximately $30 billion in open interest and over $1 trillion in trading volume. Its addition will significantly enhance Coinbase's leadership position in the global crypto market and improve its product layout in the derivatives field, forming a strong complement to Coinbase's futures business in the U.S. and international perpetual contract business.

Coinbase stated that this acquisition is a key step in achieving its vision of a one-stop platform that integrates spot, futures, perpetual contracts, and options trading, helping to improve capital efficiency.

After the transaction is completed, Deribit will immediately enhance Coinbase's profitability and bring more diverse and counter-cyclical trading revenue. Compared to spot trading, which is more affected by market volatility, options trading revenue is generally more stable, as traders use options for risk management in both bull and bear markets.

Why Deribit, the King of Crypto Options Trading?

Founded in 2016 in the Netherlands, Deribit is a trading platform focused on digital currency derivatives.

As the world's first platform to launch digital currency options, Deribit has become the most active platform for crypto options trading globally, holding over 80% of the options market share. Meanwhile, Deribit has also consistently ranked among the top ten global trading platforms in terms of digital currency futures trading volume and open interest.

The platform offers various margin trading options, including BTC, ETH, USDT, and USDC, covering spot trading, coin-margined and USDC-margined perpetual contracts, futures contracts, and options contracts. Notably, Deribit provides a wide range of futures and options contracts with various expiration dates, including futures of different durations and the most comprehensive options for dates, weeks, months, and quarters in the market.

In January 2023, Deribit announced it would relocate its headquarters to Dubai and subsequently obtained a Full Market Product license under the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). Additionally, Deribit implemented the FATF's "travel rule," strengthened anti-money laundering measures, and launched advanced custody solutions in partnership with Fidelity, Zodia, and Copper.

As early as January this year, Bloomberg cited sources indicating that Deribit had an intention to be acquired. Deribit also invited Financial Technology Partners LLC (FT Partners) to participate in the buyer evaluation for the acquisition and stated that Deribit's valuation could exceed $5 billion. Both Kraken and Coinbase expressed interest in exploring the opportunity.

On March 22, Bloomberg reported that Coinbase was in deep negotiations to acquire the derivatives crypto trading platform Deribit. Some insiders indicated that both parties had informed the Dubai regulatory authorities about the negotiations, as Deribit holds relevant licenses in Dubai.

Coinbase's Acquisition Strategy

For Coinbase, acquiring Deribit will bring multiple strategic benefits. First, after the transaction is completed, Deribit is expected to immediately enhance Coinbase's profitability and bring more diverse and counter-cyclical trading revenue.

At the time of the Q1 financial report announcement, Wall Street analysts expected Coinbase's performance to fall short of expectations, as retail trading was sluggish, which could impact the platform's most profitable business segment.

According to FactSet data, the company is scheduled to release its Q1 report after the market closes on Thursday. Analysts predict its earnings per share (EPS) will drop from $2.26 in Q4 of last year to $1.93, with revenue declining from $2.27 billion to $2.1 billion. This represents a significant decline compared to the EPS of $4.40 and revenue of $1.2 billion in the same period last year. The trading volume for the quarter is expected to reach $403.8 billion, down from $439 billion in Q4 of last year.

Therefore, announcing the acquisition at this time may also have relevant considerations. Compared to spot trading, which is more susceptible to market fluctuations, options trading revenue is generally more stable, as traders use options for risk management in both bull and bear markets.

Secondly, this acquisition is another important move for Coinbase in strategic mergers and acquisitions. Previously, it successfully acquired Xapo, facilitating the launch of Coinbase Custody, acquired Tagomi to enable the launch of Coinbase Prime, acquired FairX to establish Coinbase Derivatives Exchange, and acquired One River Digital to build Coinbase's asset management business.

How Does the Market View This Historic Acquisition?

The community generally holds a positive attitude towards this acquisition. Raoul Pal, co-founder of Real Vision, believes that Coinbase's acquisition of Deribit is not only an important opportunity for itself but also significantly reduces a potential systemic risk, as the options market was previously dominated by a smaller trading platform. In the event of a black swan event, high leverage could lead to serious issues. Overall, Pal believes this is good news for all parties involved.

Market analysis also points out that based on Deribit's trading volume of up to $1.2 trillion in 2024, assuming an average fee of 0.035%, its annual revenue would be approximately $420 million. Coinbase's acquisition at a price of $2.9 billion equates to acquiring this market share at about 6.9 times the price-to-sales ratio, which appears more cost-effective compared to Robinhood's price-to-sales ratio of up to 15 times.

Further analysis indicates that for Coinbase, headquartered in the U.S., its involvement in derivatives businesses such as options and futures has been limited due to regulatory restrictions. However, the current regulatory landscape in the U.S. seems to be changing, making the acquisition of Deribit a strategic opportunity that paves the way for Coinbase to launch a more comprehensive derivatives trading platform in the U.S. market.

There are also voices in the community suggesting that Deribit, as a profitable and steadily growing leading platform, can easily complement Coinbase's global compliance layout, high-net-worth client system, and USDC settlement system. In the future, it may even open high-quality options trading directly to institutions and U.S. users through Coinbase Prime, further expanding market share.

As global derivatives increasingly become a core revenue source for trading platforms, Coinbase's acquisition of Deribit undoubtedly positions it to reshape the landscape of the crypto derivatives market and lays a solid foundation for itself in the upcoming new bull market. Whether it can successfully bring its derivatives business into the U.S. market remains to be seen as regulatory clarity unfolds.

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