Deribit Moves Beyond Crypto with 90+ USDC-Settled Perpetuals

Deribit is adding more than 90 USDC-settled linear perpetual futures, including contracts tied to public companies, ETFs, commodities and private-company valuations.

The launch marks the exchange’s first move into listed equity and ETF perpetuals. The new product set also includes commodity contracts, pre-IPO products and the Coinbase 50 Index, alongside 60 crypto underlyings.

Deribit will introduce the products in stages. Some instruments are currently marked as unlisted in Deribit’s specifications, meaning their terms remain indicative until trading begins.

Perpetuals Without the Underlying Asset

The contracts give traders synthetic exposure to a reference price. A stock perpetual, for example, tracks a listed company's price through a derivative contract rather than transferring the share itself.

All the new instruments are quoted, margined and cash-settled in USDC. Unless cross-collateral is used, traders post margin in the stablecoin and settle profits and losses in USDC. That structure lets Deribit offer contracts referencing different markets inside the same derivatives account.

The economic exposure may relate to Bitcoin, gold, a listed stock or a private-company valuation, but the trade remains a perpetual futures contract rather than a purchase of the underlying asset.

For equity and ETF contracts, this means holders do not receive shares, voting rights, dividends, pre-emption rights or any ownership interest in the company.

Pre-IPO contracts are further removed from direct ownership: they reference a constructed estimate of a private company’s aggregate valuation, not a traded share price.

Access Remains Conditional

Equity, ETF, commodity and pre-IPO perpetuals are offered under the Limited Licence Approval granted to Deribit FZE by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority.

Availability remains subject to that approval’s conditions, customer eligibility and jurisdictional restrictions. Deribit has not specified the criteria customers must meet to access every product in the new range.

It also has not disclosed volume targets, expected liquidity or launch dates for each contract in the staged rollout. The expansion places Deribit in a growing group of venues using crypto-style perpetual futures for non-crypto markets.

Bybit recently added 24/7 perpetuals on major FX pairs, Coinbase International Exchange offers stock and ETF perpetuals to eligible users, and Kalshi has filed to add perpetual futures tied to precious metals.

Deribit is also linking the new products to its upgraded matching engine, which it says is designed to support larger order flow and faster execution.