In an October 13 statement, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the Commission voted to approve a securities exchange rule change allowing standardized binary options linked to key performance indicators reported by public companies.

Blockchain News, citing Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett, reports the exchange is Cboe. The covered issuers include crypto-heavy names: Coinbase, Robinhood and Bitcoin miner MARA.

Traders can take yes-or-no positions on whether a specified financial or operational target is met, with each contract paying a fixed, predetermined amount when its condition is satisfied.

Settlement takes place in cash at expiration, and the contracts are European style, exercisable only at expiration.

Unlike ordinary stock options, which derive value from the price of an underlying security, these contracts reference reported company metrics themselves — a structure that has never traded on a regulated U.S. securities exchange before.

A contract tied to Coinbase's quarterly trading volume, for example, pays out only if the company reports a figure satisfying the contract's stated condition; the exchange sets thresholds and terms under its approved listing rules.

For crypto readers, the striking part is that MARA's covered indicators include Bitcoin production, letting investors trade a miner's operational output rather than the market price of BTC itself. Crypto News frames it as trading directly on corporate performance figures.

The underlying data already sits in public disclosures. Coinbase's eligible indicators include total trading volume, transaction revenue, total revenue, subscription and services revenue, and diluted net income per share.

For MARA, contracts can reference Bitcoin production and other operational results. Robinhood's customer activity and revenue figures are also covered, and Blockchain News reports Robinhood is expected to be the first retail broker to offer the contracts.

As context, Crypto News notes Coinbase reported a Q2 2026 net loss of $359.5 million with revenue down 18.5% year over year to $1.22 billion, while MARA reported 2,422 BTC produced in the quarter and an energized hashrate of 70.3 EH/s.

The approval does not turn these products into unrestricted wagers.

Atkins said the contracts will be listed and traded in substantially the same manner as conventional standardized options, with exchange rules governing customer accounts and margin requirements, trading halts, auction mechanisms, market-maker quoting obligations and order-type rules — safeguards he described as core investor protections under federal securities laws.

Crucially, the order applies only to the specific standardized contracts on the securities exchange.

Bloomingbit reports the SEC said the decision does not amount to blanket approval for all products using the same KPIs, and contracts structured to fall under commodities law remain within CFTC jurisdiction.

Atkins framed the decision as a break from years of SEC–CFTC jurisdictional fights, saying those disputes had prevented certain financial products from reaching U.S. markets and calling the approval part of a new approach built on regulatory cooperation and investor choice.

Bloomingbit reports he described the move as reflecting regulatory harmonization and broader investor choice. Blockchain News notes the structure opens a route for traders to take positions on company performance metrics without directly betting on BTC's price.

The roadmap ahead is regulatory, not finished: Crypto News recounts Atkins raising prediction-market oversight at a February Senate Banking hearing, a joint SEC–CFTC consultation in June, and the CFTC submitting two prediction-market rules for White House review on September 28.