Coinbase, the biggest crypto exchange in the United States, has officially launched XRP futures contracts through its derivatives platform. This means traders can now bet on the future price of XRP in a way that’s fully approved by U.S. regulators.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) gave Coinbase the green light to offer these contracts. This is a big deal because it brings more trust and legal clarity to XRP trading, especially for big investors and institutions.
Earlier this month, Coinbase said it had filed paperwork to launch these XRP futures. On April 21, the exchange confirmed the contracts were officially live. This move makes it easier and cheaper for investors to gain exposure to XRP without actually buying and holding the token.
The CFTC’s quick approval shows that the agency is becoming more open to crypto products. Just recently, the CFTC removed some strict rules that made it hard for companies to launch crypto-related futures. Now, it’s easier for traditional financial firms and crypto businesses to enter the market.
One of the reasons Coinbase is confident in offering XRP futures is because XRP is a strong, widely-used digital asset. It has high liquidity (which means it’s easy to trade), is available on many exchanges, and has a big user base. XRP also gained some legal clarity after the U.S. court ruled that its sales on public exchanges are not securities, which made it more appealing to investors.
Right before the launch of XRP futures, on-chain data showed a big spike in XRP network activity. The number of active XRP addresses jumped by 67.5% between April 19 and 20—from around 27,000 to over 40,000. This increase likely shows rising interest from both regular users and large investors, maybe because they were expecting the launch of these futures.
However, the price of XRP in the spot market (regular trading) didn’t jump right away. In fact, it dropped slightly—about 1.26%—within 24 hours. This shows that even though a new product like futures can help improve long-term market activity and price stability, short-term prices may not react immediately.
Coinbase has already launched regulated futures for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Adding XRP to the mix shows the company’s plan to become a major player in the U.S. crypto derivatives market. It also signals that Coinbase believes XRP has a strong future, even though there’s still some debate about crypto regulation in the U.S.
