Nasdaq-listed Coinbase (COIN) has secured U.K. MiFID investment services authorization, enabling the company to offer traditional financial products alongside its existing crypto services. According to Odaily News, the new license allows institutional and professional traders to trade perpetual contracts for crypto, stocks, and commodities, while retail users will be able to trade stocks on the Coinbase platform for the first time. The MiFID license, combined with the company's existing UK e-money license and crypto asset registration, forms Coinbase's complete regulatory framework for the U.K. market. This represents the company's most significant expansion of product capabilities since entering the UK market and supports its long-term goal of creating a single platform for crypto, traditional finance and future tokenised assets.
The authorization sits alongside Coinbase's U.K. e-money license and crypto registration, with the company receiving FCA cryptoasset registration in February last year. As reported by Odaily News, U.K. users are gaining access to products that Coinbase has started rolling out overseas. U.S. users already have access to stock and exchange-traded fund trading, while eligible non-U.S. customers can trade USDC-settled stock perpetual futures on large-cap names including Apple, Microsoft and Tesla. The company positions the U.K. as a key market due to supportive regulation and 7 million UK adults currently holding crypto, with a quarter of non-holders indicating they would participate more if the sector operates under clear regulation. According to Coinbase, the move supports its goal of offering comprehensive financial services across multiple asset classes.
The U.K. approval comes as regulations begin reshaping how institutional capital approaches digital assets, with the FCA indicating its approved framework provides clarity for regulated participants. According to AMBCrypto, surveys show 73-77% of UK and European institutions plan to increase crypto allocations this year, with those allocating more than 5% of assets expected to rise from 11% to 28%. The establishment of regulatory requirements for exchanges, custodian entities, and investment firms will create lower entry points for regulated institutional investors and encourage existing financial service companies to offer additional digital asset services. As more regulated participants enter the market, liquidity should deepen, investment products should diversify, and competition among service providers could accelerate, gradually making digital assets a more integrated component of mainstream financial markets.
Coinbase has announced plans to offer tokenized stocks backed one-for-one by U.S. equities to eligible non-U.S. users, as previously reported by CoinDesk. The company's new MiFID license provides a regulated route to expand beyond crypto before the U.K.'s full crypto framework takes effect in October 2027. Coinbase says tokenized real-world assets are planned as a future area of expansion, supporting its comprehensive financial services strategy. The platform will also gradually support services such as stablecoin payments, savings, lending, and tokenized real-world assets (RWA) in the future, as reported by Odaily News, further advancing its 'Everything Exchange' strategy. The success of Coinbase's expansion will depend on greater trading volume, strong institutional participation, and higher client engagement across multiple asset classes to result in long-term growth in revenue.
