SEC Approves Binary Options on Coinbase and MARA Metrics, but Not a Bet on Bitcoin’s Price
The SEC has approved a securities-exchange rule change that allows standardized binary options tied to company performance indicators, and the decision touches the crypto sector more directly than most. For BTC USD traders, the key point is that these contracts do not track the Bitcoin price.
They turn on whether a reported business metric meets a set condition. The Commission voted on October 13, and Chairman Paul Atkins described the order as a step toward harmonization, innovation and investor choice. Approval of a framework is not the same as a live, liquid market, so launch dates and trading depth remain open questions.
Eligible references include Coinbase trading volume and MARA’s Bitcoin production, which gives traders a regulated way to take a view on how crypto businesses perform.
🚨NEW: The SEC has approved @Cboe to list binary options tied to KPIs (key performance indicators) reported by public companies, including @coinbase, @RobinhoodApp and @MARA.
The contracts let traders take yes/no positions on metrics like Coinbase trading volume, Marathon’s BTC… pic.twitter.com/7dOQVbICtV
Ordinary stock options derive their value from a company’s share price. These contracts reference reported performance data instead. Coinbase indicators include total trading volume, transaction revenue, total revenue, subscription and services revenue, and diluted net income per share.
Coinbase reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $1.22 billion, down 18.5% year over year, and a net loss of $359.5 million. Its share of global crypto trading rose to 10.3% from 9.1% in the previous quarter.
For MARA, the relevant measure is Bitcoin production, which links the contract to mining operations rather than the market price of BTC. MARA produced 2,422 BTC, reported $174.9 million in revenue and a $611.3 million net loss, and held 35,577 BTC at the end of June. Its energized hashrate was 70.3 EH/s, and it sold 2,213 BTC.
A trader takes a position on whether a specified target will be met during a reporting period. A winning contract pays a fixed $1, while a losing one expires worthless. The options are cash-settled and European-style, so they can be exercised only at expiration.
They are classified as National Market System securities and fall under standardized-options rules covering margin, trading halts and market-maker obligations.
The order speaks solely to these binary options on a securities exchange. It does not address similar products structured in other ways, and Atkins said it does not foreclose CFTC jurisdiction over KPI contracts built to fall under commodities law. The wider jurisdictional question between the two regulators is therefore still open.
The market details are also missing. No contract size, position limits, open interest, spreads or confirmed launch date have been published, and even a launch would not guarantee tight spreads or easy exits.
Until those details emerge, these binary options offer no direct ownership or price exposure to BTC USD, Coinbase equity or MARA equity.
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Alex is a seasoned cryptocurrency trader and market analyst with over seven years of active experience in the digital asset space. Since entering the markets in 2017, Alex has specialized in identifying emerging "meta" trends and high-volatility narratives. Notably, Alex... Read More
Asanat Analysis — Why it matters
The SEC's approval of binary options on company metrics represents a narrowly-scoped expansion of derivatives available to retail investors, but the explicit exclusion of Bitcoin price tracking is significant. This suggests regulatory comfort with conditional betting on corporate fundamentals (Coinbase user metrics, Marathon Digital hashrate) while maintaining resistance to direct price-exposure products. The distinction reveals the SEC's ongoing bifurcation strategy: permitting infrastructure-layer derivatives while constraining spot-price instruments.
This decision has second-order implications for crypto derivatives regulation. By approving non-price binary options, the SEC establishes a precedent that crypto-adjacent securities can be structured to avoid the 'commodity or security' classification trap that has stalled Bitcoin spot ETF derivates. However, the Bitcoin price carve-out undercuts speculation that regulatory barriers are eroding uniformly. Institutional demand for operational hedges (Marathon hash rate exposure, Coinbase user growth) now has a defined vehicle, potentially driving correlation between traditional finance and mining/exchange fundamentals rather than price action.