SEC Approves Performance-Based Binary Options for Coinbase and MARA
The Securities and Exchange Commission has officially authorized Cboe to list binary options tied to the operational performance of major industry players like Coinbase and MARA.
How Metric-Based Settlement Works
Investors will soon be able to trade contracts based on specific financial and operational data, such as Coinbase’s transaction revenue and trading volume. For Bitcoin miner MARA, the permitted metrics include total Bitcoin produced and current holdings. These binary options operate on an all-or-nothing basis, where a "call" pays if the reported figure meets or exceeds a threshold, and a "put" pays if it falls below. The standard gross payout for these contracts is set at $1, subject to the purchase price and trading costs.
Finality and Regulatory Safeguards
A defining characteristic of these options is the "no restatement" rule, which ensures that payouts remain final once settled. Even if a company later corrects its reported figures in a subsequent SEC filing, the initial settlement value is not adjusted. If a disclosure is delayed, the clearinghouse may wait for the metric, though trading will always cease on the scheduled expiration date. In the event that a metric becomes completely unavailable, alternative clearing procedures may use the last closing price to determine the final value.
Market Availability and Retail Access
Cboe initially planned an October rollout across 23 companies, pending the finalization of regulatory filings and clearinghouse approvals. Robinhood has been named as the primary retail broker for the launch, potentially opening these sophisticated instruments to a wide audience of individual traders. As of mid-October, the exact start date for trading Coinbase and MARA contracts remains unconfirmed while the final technical documents are processed.
