From legal clarity to self-certified futures

Following Coinbase’s submission to self-certified XRP futures, Attorney John Deaton gave a summary highlighting the involvement of the exchange with XRP.

On April 3, Coinbase announced that its derivatives, Coinbase Derivatives, had filed its subsidy to self-certify XRP futures in the US.

According to Coinbase, the move aims to provide investors with more ways to gain exposure to more regulated and capital-efficient XRP. “One of the most fluid assets in the world.”

We look forward to announce that Coinbase Derivatives has submitted to CFTC to self-certify $XRP futures.

The contract is expected to be released on April 21, 2025.

Look forward to it…pic.twitter.com/nkupjjnmkw

– Coinbase Institutional

Coinbase engagement with XRP

As a result, Deaton spoke about Coinbase’s involvement with XRP and how Exchange correctly analyzed Coin that Coin is not security.

XRP is not security

According to Deaton, Coinbase’s experienced team of securities lawyers analyzed XRP using an internal digital asset framework and concluded that XRP is not security.

In January 2019, the exchange notified the SEC of its findings and confirmed that its analysis corresponded to the XRP committee’s views. This confirmation was necessary at the time, as the exchange planned to list XRP.

Interestingly, the SEC did not dispute the Coinbase findings as internal enforcement lawyers had previously conducted similar analyses. The committee released the XRP Howey Analysis memo on June 13, 2018, but did not conclude that XRP is security.

The publication came a day before former SEC official William Hinman gave a controversial speech and declared Ethereum was no longer safe.

Coinbase lists and registers XRPs

A month after Coinbase met with the SEC, Exchange listed XRP on February 26, 2019. In particular, it promoted the use of XRP alongside USDC for free international remittances.

Less than two years later, the SEC sued Ripple and two executives, claiming that XRP was security. In the suit, the committee alleged that all XRP transactions were securities, regardless of the way in which all XRP transactions were acquired or sold.

Following this tough action, Coinbase and other US exchanges have listed XRP to avoid potential sanctions from the SEC.

In defense, a group of over 75,000 XRP holders joined the case as Amici Curiae. 3,000 investors in the group filed an affidavit claiming they didn’t know about Ripple when they first bought the XRP.

According to Deaton, ruling party judge Annalisa Torres cited the affidavit and agreed to Ripple and Coinbase that XRP is not security in itself. Shortly after the judge announced the decision in July 2023, Coinbase and other exchanges relisted XRP.

Self-certified XRP futures

Less than two years later, Coinbase announced another support for XRP. This time, we plan to launch self-certified futures for coins. If CFTC approves the filing, the XRP futures contract will debut on April 21, 2025 at Coinbase.

The move comes a week after Ripple agreed to drop the attack, in line with the SEC’s decision to stop the multi-year lawsuit.