Coinbase Seeks CFTC Nod for Solana and Hedera Futures Contracts
2025-01-31
Category: None

Coinbase Derivatives has filed with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to list futures contracts for Solana SOLUSD and Hedera (HBAR). 
The subsidiary of Coinbase aims to introduce these new contracts on or after February 18, 2025, pending regulatory approval.
Coinbase Files To Launch Solana And Hedera Futures 
According to the January 30 filings, Coinbase Derivatives plans to introduce cash-settled futures contracts for Solana and Hedera, with monthly settlement periods. 
Donald Trump’s second presidential term, along with Gary Gensler’s exit from the SEC, has led to a notable increase in ETF filings. Analysts have pointed out that issuers are “testing the limits of what the SEC will allow” under the current leadership.
For Solana, Coinbase is introducing two futures contracts. The Standard Solana Futures (SLC) will have a contract size of 100 SOL. This will result in a notional value of about $25,000 per contract. 
The Nano Solana Futures SOLUSD will represent 5 SOL per unit, giving a notional value of approximately $1,250. 
The position limit for Solana futures is 3,500 SLC contracts, totaling 350,000 SOL. At an assumed price of $240 per SOL, this would amount to $84 million in notional value, or roughly 0.07% of Solana’s current market capitalization.
In addition, the proposed Hedera Futures contract’s (HED) contract size and position limit are set at 5,000, totaling 25 million HBAR. Therefore, the contracts would have a notional value of $7.5 million, assuming a price of $0.3 per HBAR. This would represent about 0.06% of Hedera’s market cap.
Meanwhile, on the price front, SOL and HBAR continue to struggle. At press time, Solana was trading at $236.11. This represented a decline of 9.09% over the past week and 0.70% in the last 24 hours. 
Hedera also experienced losses. The altcoin traded at $0.31 after declining 5.34% over the past week and 0.67% in the last day.
Interestingly, Coinbase’s latest filing follows a recent incident when CME Group briefly displayed details about potential XRP and Solana futures on its beta website. The information was quickly removed. Furthermore, a spokesperson clarified that no official decision had been made regarding those futures contracts.