Coinbase, the largest US-based cryptocurrency exchange, has bought the Cyprus arm of BUX, a European trading platform. BUX Europe Limited, the MiFID-licensed entity that was renamed Coinbase Financial Services Europe, is involved in the deal. This marks a major step for Coinbase in the CFDs world of financial derivatives popular among professional traders.
The acquisition gives Coinbase a CIF license, thus entitled to offer CFDs and other financial products throughout the European Economic Area (EEA). With this license, Coinbase will be in an excellent position to reach out to institutional clients in Europe, while the company is yet to officially confirm its plan to publicly launch CFDs.
The Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has accepted Coinbase’s new European platform but it is not currently live. From the information in this acquisition, it appears Coinbase’s main reason for acquiring it is to secure the license and infrastructure rather than maintain the clients of the previous BUX company.
In any case, BUX had previously transferred its CySEC clients over to AvaTrade, another provider of CFDs. The acquisition was concluded in October 2024. Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) recorded the name change from BUX Europe Limited to Coinbase Financial Services Europe Ltd.
The acquisition indicates Coinbase’s deeper interest in expanding its offerings and possibly entering the competitive CFD market across Europe.
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