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Desk access and contract terms
GCEX began offering Bitcoin and Ether options on 22 October 2026, using its UK entity, GC Exchange Limited, which is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Professional clients and institutions can ask the trading desk for prices.
The eligible groups named by the company include hedge funds, asset managers and family offices. Retail investors are excluded under the FCA's ban on selling crypto derivatives to them, in place since January 2021.
The desk quotes European-style calls and puts, exercisable only at expiry, with monthly expiries and settlement in fiat currency. GCEX says its liquidity providers supply prices, and the resulting positions appear in XplorPortal reporting alongside clients' spot crypto and FX activity. Founder and chief executive Lars Holst said institutional clients wanted regulated hedging without opening an exchange account.
The company says it offsets every trade with liquidity providers rather than taking the opposite side. Buyers' losses are capped at the premium, while sellers can lose more than they receive, according to the company.
Licences split across three entities
GC Exchange Limited also operates the group's FX and CFD business. It recorded a pre-tax loss in 2025 during an expansion push. Spot crypto trading sits in Denmark with GC Exchange A/S, authorised by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). A separate Dubai unit, now led by Alya Marrakchi, holds a licence from the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA).
FM Intelligence data show the FCA registered 68 cryptoasset firms from January 2020 to August 2026, equal to 17% of the 391 applications it decided. GC Exchange Limited's firm reference number is 828730. FM Intelligence's licence monitoring tool covers public registers for 12 regulators.
Other firms have also added institutional OTC options: Hidden Road introduced cross-margined contracts in July 2025, while FalconX opened round-the-clock electronic access in September for Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and HYPE. Kraken launched US dollar-settled European-style Bitcoin and Ether options in July, with request-for-quote trading and weekly to semi-annual expiries. Finance Magnates also reported that Coinbase agreed to acquire Deribit for $2.9 billion in May 2025; Coinbase said the exchange handled more than $185 billion in trading volume in July 2025.
Figures behind the launch
| Measure | Reported figure |
|---|---|
| Deribit trading volume, July 2025 | More than $185 billion |
| Coinbase's agreed Deribit acquisition, May 2025 | $2.9 billion |
| FCA cryptoasset registrations, January 2020 to August 2026 | 68 firms |
| Share of applications decided by the FCA | 17% of 391 |
| GC Exchange Limited FCA firm reference | 828730 |
| Regulators covered by FM Intelligence's tool | 12 |
Where this lands in the stack
For operations teams, the immediate integration point is the trading desk and XplorPortal. They will need to establish how quote requests, executed positions and monthly expiries map into existing reporting and reconciliation processes. The report does not specify the quote lifecycle or the settlement currency, so those details are worth confirming before connecting the workflow to internal systems.
Risk teams should also clarify how the liquidity-provider hedge is recorded and how the different loss profiles for buyers and sellers are reflected in controls. What data is available for position monitoring, and how are exceptions handled at expiry? The options sit with the UK entity that also runs FX and CFDs, while spot crypto remains with the Danish unit, so operators should check which entity's records feed each downstream process.
