Coinbase launched its international exchange in the Caribbean nation of Bermuda on Tuesday, less than two weeks after the U.S.-based, publicly traded company obtained regulatory approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority.
In a blog post published Tuesday morning, the cryptocurrency exchange said that its offshore entityCoinbase International Exchangewill allow non-U.S. customers to trade in perpetual futures, or financial assets pegged to predicted future prices of commodities. For now, it will only focus on Bitcoin and Ethereum products, a person familiar with the matter told Fortune.
Rest assured that Coinbase is committed to the U.S., but countries around the world are increasingly moving forward with responsible crypto-forward regulatory frameworks to strategically position themselves as crypto hubs, Coinbase wrote. We would like to see the U.S. take a similar approach.
Initially, the offshore exchange will cater to market makers and institutional clients, said the person familiar with the matter. Trades will be settled in USDC, the stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar that Coinbase developed in concert with Circle, according to the companys blog post.
The opening of Coinbases Bermuda offshoot comes amid a regulatory onslaught from the U.S. government against crypto mainstays like Kraken, Binance, Genesis, and Gemini. As regulators have filed lawsuits and issued threats, U.S.-based crypto firms have looked abroad to friendlier locales like Hong Kong, Dubai, and Singapore. In fact, twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who are most famous for their role in the launch of Facebook and also behind the crypto exchange Gemini, announced on Tuesday that they were launching their own international exchange in Singapore.
While Coinbases announcement on Tuesday was its first public confirmation that it was launching an offshore exchange in Bermuda, there had been prior hints that the company was looking abroad, especially as the exchange, which often touts its comparative transparency with regulators, has come under the crosshairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In March, Bloomberg reported that Coinbase was contacting institutional investors about potentially setting up a crypto exchange overseas. The Block soon after reported that the rumored exchange would offer perpetual swaps, a type of future. And just one day before it announced it had obtained regulatory approval in Bermuda, Coinbases founder and CEO Brian Armstrong warned during a conference that if the U.S. and U.K. did not implement clear crypto regulations, crypto firms would move abroad to offshore havens.
