Coinbase's offshore derivatives exchange has seen volumes surge towards $300 million per day, according to data from The Block's data dashboard. 

The platform, which offers trading in perpetual futures contracts, launched in May and has seen volumes top $100 million daily since August 14. The platform's volumes hit $287 million on August 18.

The new venue was launched as part of Coinbase's effort to "accelerate" its global expansion, as per the exchange's second quarter earnings. Those expansion efforts have occurred against the backdrop of a more uncertain regulatory environment in the US and Coinbase's ongoing legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued the firm in June. 

As per its shareholder letter, the firm has onboarded 50 institutions onto the new market and traded $5.5 billion within the first seven weeks of trading. Here's a relevant passage from the letter:

While we are in the early days of investing to build liquidity and grow institutional participation, we are also working to bring new features and additional products to market over the second half of the year, such as additional asset trading books and spot trading. We remain committed to partnering with high-bar global regulators and are encouraging the US to follow the progressive regulatory frameworks seen in emerging crypto hubs.

Bitcoin futures volumes across derivatives exchanges have been on a steady decline since peaking in the spring, falling from $1.3 trillion during March to $608 billion in July, according to The Block's data dashboard. 

source:theblock