Perpetuals.com Secures EU's First All-in-One Crypto Derivatives License

Edgen Crypto

·Mar 27 2026, 12:24

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Key Takeaways

Perpetuals.com (NASDAQ:PDC) has secured a landmark license expansion from Cypriot regulators, positioning it as the first fully integrated venue for crypto derivatives in the European Economic Area. This approval allows the company to offer direct market access, removing the need for traditional brokers and clearing houses.

Regulatory First: On March 27, 2026, Perpetuals.com became the first European Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) to receive CySEC approval to combine trade execution and direct client onboarding under a single MiFID II license.
Disrupts Old Model: The new structure collapses the traditional three-step process (broker, venue, clearing house) into one entity, designed to lower costs and complexity for traders seeking regulated, leveraged crypto products.
EU-Wide Access: The license is passportable to over 30 countries in the European Economic Area, offering a regulated alternative to offshore exchanges with full MiFID II investor protections.

Perpetuals.com Secures EU's First Direct Crypto Derivatives License

On March 27, 2026, Perpetuals.com Ltd (NASDAQ:PDC) received a pivotal license expansion from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). The approval extends its Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) permissions, making it the first Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) in Europe authorized to execute crypto derivative orders directly on behalf of clients. This regulatory milestone allows the company to operate a fully vertically integrated trading venue for leveraged crypto products across the entire European Economic Area (EEA).

New Model Eliminates Three Financial Intermediaries

Until now, European traders required a fragmented chain of providers: a broker for onboarding, an MTF for trade matching, and a clearing house for settlement. Perpetuals.com has collapsed all three functions into a single regulated entity, also replacing its external clearing house with proprietary infrastructure. This creates a direct-access model similar to the user experience on major offshore exchanges like Binance and Bybit, but operates fully within the EU's regulatory perimeter. The move provides traders with MiFID II protections, including segregated asset accounts and access to the Cyprus Investor Compensation Fund, while eliminating intermediary costs and friction.

European traders have only had two bad choices for leveraged crypto: take the regulatory protection and accept three intermediaries between you and the trade, or go offshore and accept that nobody is watching your money. We just made that trade-off obsolete.

— Patrick Gruhn, Chief Executive Officer of Perpetuals.com

European Derivatives Market Heats Up in 2026

The approval positions Perpetuals.com directly against other major players expanding in the region. The development comes just one week after Coinbase launched perpetual futures for major US stocks and ETFs for its international clients on March 20, also operating under a MiFID II license obtained from CySEC. As major platforms build out regulated offerings within the EEA, which covers over 30 countries, the competition to attract European traders with efficient, compliant, and cost-effective derivatives is intensifying.