Coinbase is offering a new regulated way to benefit from one of the most liquid digital assets – XRP – with futures allowing traders to speculate on the crypto price without owning the currency.
Coinbase Institutional, a crypto solution provider to global financial services companies, has announced an upcoming launch of a new type of crypto derivatives – XRP futures.
The crypto company has filed with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to self-certify the futures linked to Ripple’s XRP token, which serves as a bridge between traditional finance and blockchain technology. The new trading option is expected to be available on April 21, 2025.
According to the filing, the crypto-linked financial contract-to-be will be a monthly cash-settled and margined contract based on the MarketVector Coinbase XRP Benchmark Rate. It will be trading under the symbol XRL. The contract follows XRP’s price movements and is settled in US dollars. Each derivative corresponds to 10,000 XRP, which, at a current rate of about $2 per token, amounts to approximately $20,000.
Taking into account the crypto market volatility, the firm aims to keep trading stable and ensure liquidity. Therefore, Coinbase will employ various risk management tools for this purpose, such as daily price limits, price bands, exposure limits, kill switches, and margin adjustments based on XRP’s risk level. Investors can trade their contracts for the current month and the next two months. If XRP’s price changes by more than 10% in an hour, trading will be temporarily stopped for safety.
XRP is a cryptocurrency designed for fast, low-cost cross-border payments. It runs on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), an energy-efficient blockchain using a unique consensus mechanism instead of traditional mining. Created in 2012, XRP aims to improve global money transfers by acting as a bridge between different currencies.
Ripple, the company behind XRP, holds a significant portion of its fixed 100 billion supply and integrates it into financial solutions like RippleNet and On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) to streamline transactions for banks and payment providers. Beyond payments, the XRPL supports decentralised finance (DeFi) applications, tokenisation services, and NFTs.
XRP’s widespread adoption is driven by partnerships with financial institutions seeking efficient settlement solutions. With the increasing demand for faster and cheaper international transfers, XRP continues to play a key role in bridging traditional finance and blockchain technology.
XRP futures provide an alternative option for risk-tolerant investors to benefit from this popular cryptocurrency. They allow traders to control larger positions with a smaller amount of capital, potentially amplifying gains. Of course, one should be careful with their investing strategies since bigger potential gains also mean bigger potential losses. Hence, this type of asset is most suitable for experienced investors, comfortable with higher risks, and looking to capitalise on short-term asset volatility.
Coinbase isn’t the first to introduce XRP futures in the U.S. XRP futures are already available on major global crypto exchanges like Binance, OKX, Bybit, and BitMEX. Bitnomial, a Chicago-based exchange, has also recently launched the first CFTC-regulated XRP futures in the country.
Following the news, the XRP token has gained almost 5% in value, making it one of the few crypto assets that are growing in today’s market after the sharp decline triggered by President Trump’s tariff announcement.
