The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved Cboe's plan to list binary options tied to company performance indicators, including metrics reported by Coinbase, Robinhood and MARA. The contracts let traders take yes-or-no positions on specific business figures rather than trading cryptocurrency prices directly, and Robinhood is expected to become the first retail broker to offer the products. The move brings corporate operating data into the range of outcomes tradable on a regulated U.S. securities exchange.

Cboe Contracts Target Corporate Performance Metrics

The approved contracts cover key performance indicators disclosed by selected publicly traded companies. Traders can take positions on Coinbase trading volume, Marathon Digital's (MARA) Bitcoin production, and Robinhood's customer and revenue figures.

According to the SEC's approval statement, the contracts will trade on a securities exchange as standardized, cash-settled, European-style options — meaning they settle in cash rather than through delivery of an underlying asset and can be exercised only at expiration. They will qualify as national market system securities and remain subject to securities laws.

Unlike conventional options, binary contracts produce outcomes based on whether specified conditions are met. The approved structure allows traders to take positions on defined company metrics without directly buying the underlying shares or cryptocurrency.

SEC Sets Trading Rules and Investor Protections

The SEC said the contracts must follow existing securities exchange requirements, including customer account rules, margin requirements, trading halts, auction mechanisms and market-maker obligations. Exchanges must also apply rules governing order types, order duration and trading instructions. The commission said these requirements provide investor protections under securities laws, placing the new products within the same operational framework that governs other listings on regulated exchanges.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins welcomed the decision, describing it as reflecting "a new spirit of harmonization, innovation, and investor choice." He also said the approval addressed unnecessary obstacles to introducing lawful financial products.

CFTC Jurisdiction Remains Open for Other Structures

The SEC emphasized that its approval covers only the specific binary options structure described in the order. It does not determine the regulatory treatment of differently structured contracts based on the same company metrics, and it does not exclude Commodity Futures Trading Commission jurisdiction over KPI contracts designed to fall under its authority. That leaves two regulatory tracks in play: the SEC-reviewed structure cleared in this order, and any differently designed KPI-linked contracts that fall to the CFTC, whose treatment remains to be determined.

For cryptocurrency-related companies, the products create another way to trade exposure to business performance. Coinbase trading volume and MARA's Bitcoin production are among the metrics covered, while Robinhood's customer and revenue figures provide additional potential trading targets.