Coinbase launches GOLD-PERP and SILVER-PERP futures offering 24/7/365 metals trading and price discovery with 25x leverage

“Coinbase has launched gold and silver perpetual futures for eligible traders outside the US, available for institutions through Coinbase International Exchange and retail traders through coinbase.com and the Coinbase app in supported jurisdictions,” the company announced on Wednesday. “These derivatives are designed to make 24/7 commodity exposure as accessible and capital‑efficient as trading crypto perps.”

The new products are GOLD-PERP, a linear perpetual future referencing one troy ounce of spot gold, and SILVER-PERP, a linear perpetual future referencing the spot price of one ounce of silver.

Coinbase explained that these futures contracts are perpetual, meaning that they have no expiry or rollover date, and are settled in USDC, Coinbase’s U.S. dollar stablecoin, with profits and losses realized directly in USDC.

Institutional and retail investors would be able to trade the gold and silver futures 24 hours per day, seven days a week, including holidays and throughout the year, apart from scheduled maintenance times. The company said GOLD-PERP and SILVER-PERP are designed for low minimum order sizes so traders can scale in and out of the precious metals around macro events, using up to 25x leverage.

“By launching gold and silver perps, Coinbase extends the same ‘TradFi assets on crypto rails’ thesis used for our recent launch of stock perpetual futures into the commodities space, reinforcing our strategy to build an Everything Exchange where traders can access crypto, traditional assets, and emerging products side by side,” the company said.

GOLD-PERP and SILVER-PERP will only be available to institutions and individuals based outside the U.S. at present, but Coinbase said they are working to gain regulatory approval for American investors.

“We are actively working with the CFTC to move our gold and silver US futures to 24/7 trading, bringing precious metals in line with the always‑on nature of crypto markets,” they said. “For eligible US traders, gold and silver exposure already exists today via commodity futures listed on Coinbase Derivatives (CDE) alongside our crypto and equity index products.”

Coinbase underlined the demand for these kinds of financial products, and the precious metals that underpin them, saying that in the first quarter of 2026, “CDE saw over $52 billion in notional volume across traditional commodity futures – 7.6% of all contracts traded that quarter – underscoring the growing appetite for metals and energy derivatives.”

“Gold and silver have served as cornerstones of the global financial system for centuries,” they noted. “Today, they remain among the largest and most widely traded assets in the world, with the global gold market estimated at more than $13 trillion and silver at roughly $1.4 trillion. Throughout history, demand for precious metals has tended to rise during periods of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, as investors turn to them as stores of value.”

The company pointed out that “access to traditional gold and silver futures markets has historically come with meaningful barriers,” including higher minimum contract sizes, “limiting participation to institutional or larger traders,” restricted trading hours, and the need for specialized brokerage accounts and significant operational overhead.

“Gold and silver trading on Coinbase is designed to modernize how traders can access these markets,” Coinbase said, adding that the launch of the new gold and silver perps also creates an “always‑on venue for weekend and overnight price discovery in precious metals, particularly in regions where traditional futures may be less accessible.”

Gold has been a hot asset in the digital markets space even as crypto prices have languished. On Monday, Tether announced that Tether Gold (XAU₮), the world’s leading tokenized gold product by market cap, continued its rapid growth in the first quarter of 2026 as record prices and persistent macroeconomic uncertainty strengthened investor demand for safe-haven assets.

At the end of 2025, XAU₮ was backed by 520,089.35 fine troy ounces of physical gold – but by March 31, 2026, the total gold reserve had risen to 707,747.14 ounces – an increase of 36% in three months, the company announced. The market value also rose from approximately US$2.25 billion to more than US$3.3 billion, and the number of tokens sold reached 559,598.64 XAU₮.

Tether said the numbers show a larger base of physical gold backing XAU₮ at a time when more investors are seeking direct gold exposure in digital form.

“Tether Gold is proving that tokenized commodities can operate with the same seriousness, scale, and reserve discipline expected from major institutional holdings,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “Gold has always been a trusted asset during periods of uncertainty, but XAU₮ gives it a new form of utility. It allows people and institutions to hold direct exposure to physical gold while benefiting from the transparency, portability, and accessibility of blockchain-based assets.”

“The growth we saw in the first quarter shows that demand for real, verifiable, tokenized reserves is only getting stronger,” he added.

Tether said that while gold has long served as a hedge during periods of uncertainty, the scale and speed of inflows into XAU₮ suggest something more structural is underway.

“Investors are increasingly seeking programmable, liquid access to gold,” the company said in the statement. “The growth of XAU₮ reflects a broader re-pricing of gold’s role in modern portfolios, shifting from a passive store of value to an active, fully collateralized financial instrument that can be transferred and settled in real time.”

“XAU₮ tokens are issued only after the corresponding physical gold bars have completed the custodian’s intake procedure,” the company said. The gold reserves are held in Switzerland and meet the London Good Delivery standards set by the London Bullion Market Association.

“The reserves are held by the custodian on behalf of XAU₮ token holders, and the gold reserves are owned by XAU₮ token holders, not by the Company,” they added.

While Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market have seen a significant decline since last year’s all-time highs, the tokenized gold market has been a bright spot in the digital marketplace, according to Swyftx Pty Ltd, an Australian-based cryptocurrency trading platform.

According to the company’s latest quarterly report released in late April, the total crypto market cap fell approximately 40% from its peak in the first quarter of 2026.

However, tokenized commodities, led by the gold market, saw significant growth in the first three months of the new year.

“Adoption of blockchain-based gold tokens grew 2.6x faster than its physical counterpart, with the market cap for tokenized gold surpassing $5 billion USD for the first time,” analysts at Swyftx said in the report.

The solid growth in tokenized gold comes after its market cap grew by 65% last year.

The report added that Tether Gold (XAUt) continues to lead the charge, representing 45% of the total market share. XAUt saw 40% growth in Total Value Locked (TVL) in the first quarter.

In an interview with Kitco News, Kurt Hemecker, CEO of Gold Token S.A., the tokenization arm of precious metals giant MKS PAMP, said that he sees significant appetite for digitized real-world assets, and gold continues to lead the way.

“In general, we're still feeling a pretty bullish attitude from institutions, as they're diving into this market,” he said.

Although the market has seen significant growth in the last year, Hemecker pointed out that the tokenized gold market is still just a small segment of the massive $23 trillion gold market, but he expects demand will continue to grow.