Original author: flowie, Fairy, ChainCatcher
Original editor: TB, ChainCatcher
Just now, Coinbase announced that it would acquire the crypto options exchange Deribit for $2.9 billion. The deal includes $700 million in cash and 11 million Class A common shares of Coinbase. It broke Krakens $1.5 billion acquisition record and became the largest acquisition deal in crypto history.
Deribit is the largest crypto options exchange by market share. In the bull market of 2024, the trading volume of Bitcoin options and Ethereum options accounted for 80% and 90% respectively. Why did it withdraw at this time? After Coinbases sky-high acquisition of Deribit, how will the crypto derivatives market be reshaped?
The development legend of Deribit, the king of options
Deribit was registered in the Netherlands in 2016 and was co-founded by brothers John Jansen and Marius Jansen.
The idea of establishing a crypto options exchange came from the actual needs of his younger brother Marius, who was one of the earliest Bitcoin investors and needed to hedge risks. However, there was no derivative product in the crypto market at that time, so he approached his older brother John, who had a professional background in options, to start a business. John has been involved in options trading since 1998 and worked as a trader at the Amsterdam Options Exchange. He is currently the CEO of Deribit.
Deribit initially focused on Bitcoin options and futures trading, filling the gap in the cryptocurrency derivatives market at the time. In 2017, Deribit launched Bitcoin Perpetual Contracts, becoming one of the first exchanges in the market to offer such products.
After 2018, the futures trading market began to grow, and Huobi and Binance also began to enter the futures market. Although facing competition, Deribit, which entered the market early in 2019, has become the worlds largest Bitcoin options exchange with its professional options experience and low fees, and continues to dominate this market. At the beginning of 2020, Deribits Bitcoin options market share accounted for as much as 86%.
Since then, Deribit has raised more than $140 million through three rounds of financing to achieve faster expansion. QCP Capital, Three Arrows Capital, 10 T Holdings, and Akuna Capital are all investors behind it.
Although Deribits user profile is mainly concentrated on professional investors and institutional users with higher requirements, it has always had a good reputation in the pursuit of growth and rarely has negative feedback.
In the bull market of 2024, Deribit once again ushered in a sharp rise, with its annual trading volume exceeding 1.1 trillion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 95%. Among them, option trading volume increased by 99%, and spot trading volume achieved an astonishing increase of 810%. The platforms daily trading volume once exceeded 1.9 billion US dollars, and the total amount of open contracts reached a record high of 48 billion US dollars on November 28, 2024.
Deribit has also continued to consolidate its dominance in the crypto options market. Its Bitcoin options trading volume once accounted for more than 80% of the total market volume, and its Ethereum options trading volume accounted for as much as 90%.
Deribits business covers 160 countries and regions around the world. After obtaining a license from the Dubai Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) in 2024, it has found new fertile ground for growth.
Why did Deribit choose to “retire at the peak”?
During its growth, Deribit has been facing two key issues: compliance challenges and growth bottlenecks.
In 2020, Deribit moved its operating base to Panama to avoid the EU’s strict KYC requirements. In 2023, in response to regulatory pressure, Deribit further moved to Dubai. In February of this year, Deribit had no choice but to announce its withdrawal from the Russian market due to sanctions imposed by the EU.
Deribit CEO Luuk Strijers has repeatedly stated that as the global regulatory framework continues to strengthen, many crypto trading platforms will exit the market due to high operating costs or be directly shut down by regulators, and Deribit itself faces similar challenges.
In addition to compliance challenges, how to break through the ceiling may be a bigger challenge for Deribit.
Deribit has very limited room for growth in the crypto options market and is facing cannibalization. Other CEXs are also constantly expanding their derivatives trading functions. BitMEX, OKX, Bybit and other CEXs continue to strengthen their derivatives layout, and Kraken also acquired NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion. These competitors have attracted a large number of users by providing high-leverage transactions, user-friendly interfaces and low transaction fees. In addition, the rise of DEX has also put a certain amount of competitive pressure on it.
In addition to defending the crypto options market, it is not easy for Deribit to expand horizontally and pursue growth. Today, the entire crypto industry lacks new liquidity, and major exchanges such as Binance and OKX are facing internal circulation and growth difficulties in various sectors. Under regulatory pressure and internal circulation, this may mean that Deribit will have to spend higher operating costs to bet on uncertain growth.
In this context, choosing to leverage the merger may be a step for Deribit to move from defending the status quo to breaking out.
Although Deribit has leading technology and market share in the field of crypto options, its product line is still relatively single. If it merges with Coinbase, the two parties can complement each other at the level of spot, futures and options, and build a more complete derivatives ecosystem.
For Coinbase, Deribit can bring in approximately US$30 billion in open interest and more than US$1 trillion in trading volume, which will significantly enhance the competitiveness of its derivatives; for Deribit, leveraging Coinbases global user base and compliance advantages, especially its in-depth layout in the US market, will help its internationalization.
This acquisition also occurred at a critical juncture of policy shift: when Trump returned to the White House and promoted crypto-friendly policies, the market demand for compliant platforms increased significantly. Against this background, Deribits decision to withdraw at this time may be a wise choice to take advantage of the situation and move towards the next growth curve.
How Coinbase is reshaping the crypto derivatives landscape
Coinbase has completed at least 21 acquisitions since 2014, and the acquisition of Deribit is the largest deal in its history. This not only marks a strategic upgrade for Coinbase, but also once again highlights the trend of accelerating mergers and acquisitions in the crypto derivatives market.
In addition to Deribit, many derivatives platforms are also selling themselves. On February 28, CoinDesk reported that BitMEX, a long-established crypto derivatives platform founded by Arthur Hayes, is also seeking to sell. In addition, crypto derivatives startup Arbelos Markets was also sold to crypto brokerage company FalconX.
The rapidly growing and mature crypto derivatives market has become a battleground for the top players. In 2024, the average daily trading volume of the global crypto derivatives market has exceeded US$100 billion, and the monthly trading volume has exceeded US$3 trillion.
Coinbase has also been working hard to expand its derivatives business in 2024, adding more than 90 new assets to its international exchanges to drive the growth of its derivatives trading volume. According to a report by CCData, Coinbases derivatives market share in 2024 increased by 3.89%.
But compared to building it yourself, MA is a fast and effective way. By acquiring Deribit, Coinbase can not only quickly enhance the scale and competitiveness of its derivatives business, but also compete with global derivatives giants such as Binance and Bybit.
This acquisition may have a profound impact on the landscape of the crypto derivatives market. As market concentration increases, other cryptocurrency exchanges may face strategic adjustments or even a round of industry consolidation. At the same time, smaller exchanges will face greater competitive pressure and may even be marginalized.
Traditional financial institutions have already entered the crypto market through ETFs and derivatives, and the powerful combination of Coinbase and Deribit will undoubtedly attract more institutional investors and further promote the integration and intersection of traditional finance and the crypto market.
However, whether Coinbase can continue Deribits specialized product style and high standards and serve this market well remains to be seen.
Crypto industry sees mergers and acquisitions boom
According to RootData, there have been 48 mergers and acquisitions in the crypto space since 2025, with an average of nearly 10 crypto mergers and acquisitions per month.
In 2024, there were 105 MA events, a record high and an increase of 36.3% from 77 in 2023.
In terms of the amount of mergers and acquisitions, there have been 9 mergers and acquisitions with a value of more than 100 million US dollars since 2024, and the amount of mergers and acquisitions has been breaking new records. Shortly before Deribit was acquired for US$5 billion, in March 2025, Kraken acquired the US futures trading platform NinjaTrader for US$1.5 billion.
MA deals worth over $100 million since 2024
As the cryptocurrency market matures, there is a clear trend of industry consolidation, and only a few platforms will ultimately stand out.
In the fierce market competition, the giants quickly expand their products and services through acquisitions. For the acquired project parties, in the case of inverted primary and secondary valuations, MA is a perfect exit method compared to issuing coins.
