Three Deadlines: Aug. 28, Aug. 31, Sept. 9
Coinbase’s institutional clients don’t need to opt in to this migration; they need to opt out, and only by August 28. After that, staying on the platform is treated as consent, and accounts, balances, and positions move automatically to Deribit.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| August 28, 2026 | Last day to opt out, by closing positions and account, or be deemed to have accepted the migration |
| August 31, 2026 | Deribit subaccounts go live in a read-only state for setup: API keys, portfolio-mapping checks, limit requests |
| September 9, 2026 | Migration day, trading pauses for roughly 30 minutes during the transfer |
What Happens During the 30-Minute Pause
Every open order on Coinbase International Exchange gets canceled. Open positions are then settled at the prevailing mark price: profit and loss locked in, any funding owed paid out. They’re then recreated on Deribit at that same settlement price through matched migration trades. Clients can’t trade or adjust positions while this is happening. Once it’s done, positions appear in new Deribit subaccounts, tagged distinctly as migration trades so they aren’t mistaken for regular trading activity.
Which Legal Entity You’ll Deal With After
Who a client’s counterparty and custodian becomes depends on what they already have set up. This migration process is unrelated to reports that Paul Grewal is to step down as Coinbase CLO. A client with only a Coinbase International Exchange account keeps Coinbase Bermuda Limited as both broker and custodian, with orders routed through CBBM to Deribit for execution.
A client already trading on both platforms keeps CBBM as custodian only, but trades directly against Deribit FZE. Clients using third-party custodians move to Deribit Panama. Clients holding both a Coinbase International Exchange account and a separate Deribit Panama account will see one of those relationships close and consolidate into the other, depending on custody setup. Most of these transitions require no client action; account managers are reaching out individually where more is needed.
API Keys and Margin Loans Don’t Transfer
Two things institutional clients have to handle themselves. Existing Coinbase International Exchange API keys won’t work on Deribit: new ones must be generated once the Deribit subaccount is provisioned. This migration does not affect Coinbase Chinese users, whose account registration and trading access follow separate policies. Margin loans don’t transfer at all; they need to be closed out before the migration. Trading history stays reachable through Coinbase International Exchange’s own APIs for about 12 months post-migration, but it won’t appear inside Deribit or Coinbase Prime, so bookmarks and integrations pointing at the old endpoints need updating.
Settlement and Funding Rules Are Changing Under You
How positions behave is changing in two structural ways: settlement frequency and funding.
- Coinbase International Exchange: Settlement every 5 minutes; hourly, uncapped funding rate.
- Deribit: Settlement once daily at 08:00 UTC; continuous funding accrual with a ±0.025% index damper and asset-specific caps (±0.5% BTC, ±1.0% ETH, ±5.0% USDC/USDT per 8h).
Positions stay open through the daily settlement; only session profit and loss gets realized and reset on that clock. The funding change is more substantial: instead of a rate that can move freely with no ceiling, Deribit’s structure caps how far it can go.
For desks running strategies built around funding-rate volatility, including basis trades or funding arbitrage calibrated to Coinbase International Exchange’s uncapped swings, this is likely to matter more than the settlement-clock change. If Deribit’s funding curve rarely brushes those caps in practice, nothing changes. If the caps bind with any regularity, expected returns on funding-sensitive positions should shrink measurably once trading moves over, a claim that becomes testable once the venue is live.
Your Fee Tier Carries Over, Your Margin Mode Defaults to X:SM
Coinbase will initially set a client’s Deribit fee tier using their existing Coinbase International Exchange trading volume, but going forward, tier status follows Deribit’s own 30-day lookback system, which allows daily tier upgrades. On margin, clients default to Cross Standard Margin, which pools collateral across assets so bitcoin holdings can support an ether-settled position, for instance. Clients who want something else can switch to one of three alternative modes: a fully segregated version, or two portfolio-margin variants applying scenario-based risk to either a single asset or the whole account, and each subaccount can choose independently.
What’s Still Unconfirmed, and Where to Get Account-Specific Answers
Coinbase has flagged all of these dates as estimates. Timelines remain subject to change with notice where required. For institutional desks, the practical task between now and September 9 is less about deciding whether to migrate, since most already have by default, and more about making sure API integrations, margin positions, and funding-sensitive strategies are ready for a venue running on different rules than the one they’re used to.
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