![\"Market](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/market-volatility-boosts-options-volume.jpg\")
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Kraken, the cryptocurrency platform, has launched options outside Europe and the U.S. and is aiming to expand into Europe.<\/p>\n
On 16 July 2026 Kraken said in a statement that it is launching\u00a0European-style, cash-settled options\u00a0on\u00a0bitcoin and ether for eligible professional and institutional clients on\u00a0Kraken Pro.<\/p>\n
Alexia Theodorou, director of derivatives at Kraken, told Markets Media that the firm has been thinking about entering the options market for a long time. She added: \u201cWe always believed that demand for options would be there with more institutional adoption of crypto.\u201d<\/p>\n
Theodorou said Kraken is one of the few crypto exchanges to have a MiFID license, as it has been approved by regulators in the European Union.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to capitalize on that and move crypto options into the regulated sphere in Europe, which is where we are focused next,\u201d she added. \u201cWe don\u2019t have definitive plans yet for options in the U.S. where we are concentrating on perpetual futures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kraken built the technology for the new business in-house which included the exchange, a risk management system and a front-end for users, which Theodorou said was a\u201d very big\u201d investment. She continued that the firm accelerated development in the last few months as crypto options have taken more market share.<\/p>\n
The new options contracts are linear and settled in US dollars, with premium, profit and loss, and settlement denominated in fiat currency. The first phase of the options launch only offers trading via request-for-quotes (RFQs) but Theodorou said the intention it to move towards a public order book to deepen price discovery as activity scales, alongside broader geographic access and wider asset coverage.<\/p>\n
Alexia Theodorou, Kraken<\/p>\n Portfolio margin is enabled for every eligible client by default rather than as an opt-in tier, and offsetting positions reduce overall margin requirements. Spot, futures and options sit in a single unified wallet, which Theodorou believes is a differentiator, alongside the design of the contracts. Clients can post collateral in more than 30 different currencies, drawing on the same multi-collateral pool that supports Kraken\u2019s existing derivatives offering.<\/p>\n \u201cWe spent a lot of time optimizing capital efficiency for options while ensuring that the risk engine is not compromised,\u201d she added. \u201cPortfolio margining keeps us competitive when it comes to capital efficiency, which is very important to institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n Theodorou said there is a lot of demand from market makers and institutions, and many active discussions are in the pipeline.<\/p>\n Crypto derivatives growth<\/strong><\/p>\n Kraken said the launch of options is the first phase of a long-term build as activity in crypto is set to track toward levels seen across traditional derivatives markets.<\/p>\n Wei Liao, director of derivatives market intelligence at Cboe Global Markets, said in a report that between 2024 and early 2026, the crypto market has been through a structural transformation. Liao said in the report: \u201cWhat had functioned as a retail-led and speculative market became more institutional in ownership, more intermediated in trading, and more closely integrated with traditional financial infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n The report, Beyond ETFs: How Derivatives & Tokenization Are Reshaping Crypto<\/a>, said that by May this year, total crypto market capitalization had fallen roughly 40% below its October 2025 peak to about $2.49 trillion. However, Liao argued that this was different from prior cycles because of support from deeper institutional participation, more developed derivatives markets, broader ETF adoption, and a larger base of stablecoin liquidity.<\/p>\n Annual notional derivatives volume in 2025 reached roughly $111.5 trillion across crypto-native centralized exchanges (CEXs), crypto-native decentralized exchanges, and traditional finance (tradFI) venues, including futures-style derivatives and options, according to the report.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.marketsmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Alexia-Theodorou.jpeg\")
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