{
  "p": "ons",
  "op": "post",
  "title": "Coinbase gets Bermuda license, plans to launch offshore exchange in coming weeks",
  "url": "https://fortune.com/crypto/2023/04/19/coinbase-gets-bermuda-license-plans-to-launch-offshore-exchange-in-coming-weeks/",
  "author": "Jeff Roberts (@jeffjohnroberts)",
  "body": "BY [JEFF JOHN ROBERTS](https://archive.is/o/Tz4Oa/https://fortune.com/author/jeff-john-roberts/)\nApril 19, 2023, 10:31 PM UTC\n\n![Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong speaks at the IFGS 2023 summit at the Guildhall in London on April 18, 2023.](https://archive.is/Tz4Oa/fb05ee25d26e1a5703dbd301fa117d0dc53de5d3.webp)\n*Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong speaks at the IFGS 2023 summit at the Guildhall in London on April 18, 2023. CARLOS JASSO—BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES*\n\n[Coinbase](https://archive.is/o/Tz4Oa/https://fortune.com/company/coinbase/)  has received a license to operate in the offshore haven of Bermuda, signaling that the company is doubling down on plans to increase its international business at a time when U.S. regulators have become hostile to the crypto industry.\n\nThe company disclosed in a blog  [post](https://archive.is/o/Tz4Oa/https://www.coinbase.com/blog/an-update-to-coinbases-global-scale-to-go-broad-and-deep)  on Wednesday that it had received the license from the Bermuda Monetary Authority, the island nation’s integrated financial regulator, which was one of the first in the world to roll out a comprehensive legal framework for digital assets in 2018.\n\nAccording to a person close to the company, Coinbase plans to launch an offshore derivatives exchange in Bermuda as soon as next week.\n\nThe news follows a  [report](https://archive.is/o/Tz4Oa/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-17/coinbase-coin-in-talks-over-crypto-trading-platform-outside-the-us)  by Bloomberg in March that Coinbase Global has been contacting institutional customers about a new offshore trading platform, and working with market makers and investment firms to launch such a service apart from its primary Coinbase marketplace. The Block soon after cited multiple sources in  [reporting](https://archive.is/o/Tz4Oa/https://www.theblock.co/post/220853/coinbases-proposed-overseas-trading-venue-would-offer-derivatives-sources)  that “Perpetual swaps—a type of future and a popular product in the crypto space—will be among the offerings.”\n\nPerpetual swaps and other exotic crypto-related derivatives make up a large part of daily trading activity, but are for the most part unavailable in the U.S. due to regulatory strictures.\n\nBy launching an offshore exchange in Bermuda, San Francisco-based Coinbase would be better poised to challenge Binance, which dominates the global crypto trade, and to diversify its revenue base.\n\nIn response to a request for comment, a Coinbase spokesperson referred  _Fortune_  to Wednesday’s blog post, which also disclosed plans to expand operations in Abu Dhabi as part of a strategy it’s calling “Go Broad & Go Deep.”\n\nThe news of the Bermuda license comes a day after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong warned that crypto firms  [may seek to relocate offshore](https://archive.is/o/Tz4Oa/https://fortune.com/crypto/2023/04/18/kraken-digital-asset-license-ireland-vasp-crypto-abroad-crackdown/)  in the absence of a clear regulatory framework in the U.S.\n\nIt’s unlikely that Coinbase has immediate plans to leave the U.S. given that it has for years touted its record of compliance in its home country, and is broadly regarded as a law-abiding by politicians and regulators. Another big U.S. company, Ripple, issued similar warnings that it could pull up stakes in 2021 but has yet to follow through.\n\nBut even if an immediate exodus of big U.S. crypto companies is unlikely in the near future, Coinbase’s move to set up shop in Bermuda suggest that the industry is increasingly viewing locations like Hong Kong, Dubai, and Singapore—all of which have touted themselves as crypto hubs—as the industry’s primary place of business."
}