Coinbase secures CFTC approval to list Dogecoin futures

The Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved Coinbase Derivatives Exchange’s application to list futures contracts tied to Dogecoin (DOGE), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC).

According to the filing, the listings will go live and begin trading on or after April 1, 2024. The CFTC’s website indicates that all three contracts were certified on March 7.

Each of the three tokens experienced above-average price gains as the news attracted publicity on March 20. As of press time, DOGE was up 16.1%, BCH was up 11.4%, and LTC was up 7.8%.

The overall crypto market was up 6.2% by comparison.

Coinbase Derivatives currently offers institutional and retail-sized contracts for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). It also offers crude oil contracts.

Regulation as commodities

Coinbase’s decision to pursue futures listings for DOGE, BCH, and LTC could have broader implications related to their origin.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart suggested that the exchange may have chosen the three digital assets because each was originally based on the code of Bitcoin, which is now widely considered a commodity by most regulators.

According to Seyffart:

“This will force the SEC to delineate between Security and Commodity besides ‘we said so.’”

Meanwhile, Scott Johnsson, General Partner and General Counsel at Van Buren Capital, suggested that Coinbase’s applications could be the first of many. He wrote:

“The tidal wave commences. I was wondering when Coinbase would do something like this.”

Johnson said that a change in US leadership could attract more applications and implied that such futures listings are a “necessary prerequisite” for spot crypto ETFs.

The SEC was famously forced to approve the spot Bitcoin ETFs after losing a legal battle with Grayscale. The court ruled that the regulator’s decision to block the ETFs for years had been “arbitrary.”

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