Documents: Coinbase explored acquiring FTX Europe after FTX's November 2022 bankruptcy, as part of Coinbase's goal to expand its overseas derivatives business
Context & Ripple Effects
The documents place Coinbase among the firms that considered FTX as its finances deteriorated, after a prospective FTX rescue appeared unlikely to proceed. The important distinction is that Coinbase’s interest concerned FTX Europe and its overseas derivatives ambitions, not a reported acquisition of FTX itself.
The exploration also fits Coinbase’s separately reported effort to build an offshore platform for institutional crypto trading. Later coverage of a MiFID II license acquisition suggests regulatory permissions remained central to its European derivatives route.
First-order effects
- The documents clarify that Coinbase evaluated FTX Europe as a possible shortcut into overseas derivatives after FTX’s bankruptcy; no completed transaction is reported.
- FTX Europe’s post-bankruptcy assets became a potential strategic target for exchanges seeking regulated derivatives capacity outside the U.S.
Second-order effects
- A failed or unconsummated FTX Europe deal would leave Coinbase to pursue market entry through other routes, consistent with its later agreement to acquire a MiFID II license holder.
- Other exchanges seeking overseas derivatives growth face the same choice between acquiring regulated infrastructure and building it, making licenses and locally authorized entities more strategically valuable.
Third-order effects
- If this pattern persists, crypto exchanges’ international expansion will depend less on broad global rollout and more on assembling jurisdiction-specific regulatory access.
- Bankruptcy estates of regulated crypto businesses may increasingly be evaluated not just for customer bases or technology, but for the licenses and market-entry paths attached to their local operations.
The trend: Crypto exchanges are treating regulated derivatives access abroad as a strategic asset that can be acquired, not merely built internally.