You Won’t Believe What Coinbase Plans to Use as Collateral—Hint: It’s Totally Digital 💸

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What’s the deal:

  • Coinbase Derivatives and Nodal Clear have teamed up in a bid to deposit USDC stablecoin as collateral in the oh-so-regulated U.S. futures markets. Clearly, someone looked at Wall Street and thought, “Needs more crypto.”
  • Bad news for the impatient: They need a (hopefully not endless) blessing from the CFTC, and the grand plan is penciled in for a glamorous 2026 launch. Yes, we might all have flying cars by then.
  • The masterminds claim this will “enhance trading,” make everything zippy efficient, and transform USDC into a “true cash equivalent.” Possibly with less risk of accidentally dropping it in the toilet.

So, in a move bound to confuse your nan, Coinbase Derivatives and Nodal Clear are plotting to let people use USDC—a stablecoin, basically digital Monopoly money with actual value—as collateral for futures trading. All perfectly legal, assuming the CFTC, who probably still writes checks, signs off.

If this makes it through the regulatory jungle, it would be the first time a stablecoin swoops in as official, government-approved collateral for margined futures trading in the U.S. Quite a flex for a virtual coin and a not-insignificant win for people who’d rather not ever touch “real” money again.

Now, when it comes to keeping your precious USDC safe, Coinbase Custody Trust will babysit your coins, while Nodal Clear (part of the EEX empire; imagine Deutsche Börse in lederhosen) takes care of, you know, clearing. Everyone gets a job.

Apparently, these two are now besties with the regulators, all collaborating to turn this into legal reality. This must be what “adulthood” looks like: taking your crypto plans to the grown-ups for rubber-stamping.

Boris Ilyevsky, CEO of Coinbase Derivatives, managed what must have been an Olympic-level straight face when he announced, “Our commitment to integrate USDC as collateral reflects our dedication to enhance trading capabilities for US market participants, improve operational efficiency through almost instant money movement.” Translation: “Crypto moves fast, and banks are slow.”

Coinbase is absolutely pumped, calling this a “meaningful milestone” (not for mankind, but for USDC) and claiming it’ll turn the stablecoin into a “true cash equivalent.” USDC is, by the way, still runner-up to Tether’s USDT—so this could be that main-character-energy glow-up it’s been waiting for. Bonus: USDC is about to be integrated into Shopify, so you can buy socks on the blockchain, probably.

Not to be outdone by themselves, the announcement follows Coinbase Derivatives and Nodal Clear letting Americans trade Bitcoin and Ethereum futures pretty much any time they please—because if there’s one thing crypto needs, it’s more people watching the charts at 3am.

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2025-06-18 19:09