Coinbase International Exchange (CIE), the offshore derivatives venue operated by Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN), recorded a record daily trading volume of $40.2 billion on Tuesday, up 78% from the prior 30-day average and surpassing the previous all-time high set in March 2024 by 14%. The volume jump was driven by aggressive positioning ahead of the SEC's CLARITY Act roundtable Thursday and the FOMC decision Wednesday afternoon.
Bitcoin perpetual-futures open interest on CIE reached $14.0 billion, a fresh record and 8% above the prior peak set in November 2024. Ethereum perpetuals open interest also reached a record $5.8 billion. The funding rates on both contracts climbed: BTC perp 8-hour funding spiked to +0.018% (or +20% annualized), the highest since the Trump-election-week reading, while ETH funding hit +0.022%.
The CLARITY Setup
The Securities and Exchange Commission convenes its CLARITY Act roundtable in Washington on Thursday with industry executives from Coinbase, Kraken, Circle, Galaxy Digital, Andreessen Horowitz and Ripple Labs scheduled to testify. The session will address the SEC-CFTC jurisdictional split for digital assets, a structural step that legal analysts characterize as a precondition for further institutional onboarding. Senate Banking Committee markup is targeted for late May.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong told CNBC Tuesday evening that "the regulatory window has never been clearer" and reiterated the firm's position that perpetual futures should be regulated under CFTC jurisdiction, not SEC. The firm filed Tuesday for the launch of crypto-perpetual futures on its U.S.-based Coinbase Derivatives Exchange (CDE), pending CFTC approval. A successful launch would compress Coinbase's offshore-onshore arbitrage and accelerate U.S. retail-customer onboarding.
ETF and Spot-Market Knock-On
U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs added $940 million of net inflows on Tuesday, the strongest single session in 21 trading days. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (