Coinbase Derivatives is expanding its partnership with clearinghouse Nodal Clear to bring Circle’s USDC stablecoin into US futures markets as eligible collateral.
On Wednesday, the companies announced that USDC will now be accepted as collateral for margined futures trading, a move designed to encourage stablecoin adoption in regulated derivatives markets.
The integration is subject to approval by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), with Coinbase Derivatives and Nodal Clear working with the authority to bring USDC to the US futures market.
“This is expected to be the first regulated use case of USDC as collateral and will leverage Coinbase Custody Trust as the custodian,” Coinbase Derivatives said in the announcement.
“A true cash equivalent”
Coinbase Derivatives and Nodal Clear target the UDSC’s debut as an eligible collateral for US futures sometime in 2026.
Nodal Clear, a CFTC-regulated derivatives clearing organization, is part of EEX Group, which belongs to the German multinational corporation Deutsche Börse. Coinbase Derivatives is also a CFTC-registered designated contract market that lists for trading derivatives contracts based on an underlying commodity.
“This will mark a meaningful milestone in our push to establish USDC as a true cash equivalent, while also offering increased efficiency through near-instant money movement and secure custody,” Coinbase Derivatives said in the announcement, highlighting the stablecoin’s reliability, operational advantages and growing acceptance in traditional financial markets.
Nodal enabled clearing for Coinbase Derivatives in May
The newly announced USDC collateral plan is not the first partnership between Coinbase and Nodal Clear.
In May, Nodal Clear started offering support for trading of select cryptocurrency futures contracts on Coinbase Derivatives Exchange (CDE), including Bitcoin Futures (BTI), Ether Futures (ETI), nano Bitcoin Futures (BIT) and nano Ether Futures (ET).
Related: JPMorgan to accept crypto ETFs as collateral for loans — Report
“Working with Coinbase Derivatives, we are excited to continue our relationship and provide innovation to the industry, such as our introduction of the first 24×7 margined futures in May 2025,” Nodal Clear chairman and CEO Paul Cusenza said. He added:
“The plans to integrate USDC as collateral represent our continued commitment to seek to be responsive to market needs and innovate. We look forward to engaging with our clearing members and the CFTC in seeking to make this a reality.”
The news comes after USDC issuer Circle went public on the New York Stock Exchange on June 5, with its CRCL shares opening trading at $69.
Circle’s USDC partner, Coinbase (COIN), has already been publicly trading for more than four years after its Nasdaq launch in April 2021.
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