Deribit launches USDC trading competition

• Deribit and Signalplus have launched a five-week trading competition with a prize pool that can increase from 400,000 USDC to 600,000 USDC.
• The contest includes rewards ranging from daily USDC payouts to a private island or a cash equivalent, depending on trading activity and referrals.
• The competition follows Coinbase's acquisition of Deribit and aims to attract active cryptocurrency derivatives traders.

Deribit and Signalplus have opened registration for a trading competition running from 6 July to 10 August 2026, offering a prize pool that starts at 400,000 USDC and can increase to 600,000 USDC if participants generate US$25 billion in qualifying trading volume.

The contest awards greater weighting to cryptocurrency options trading than futures trading, while short-dated contracts with seven days or less until expiry receive additional volume multipliers through Deribit's Island Amplifier programme.

The headline prize is a private island or its cash equivalent, while additional rewards include Rolex watches, Apple Vision Pro headsets, Nvidia shares, travel packages, Hermès accessories and daily USDC payouts.

Participants can compete across multiple categories including trading volume, profit and loss, referrals, team performance, deposits and institutional block trades, with referral milestones offering rewards including Nvidia shares for 1,500 referrals and a Rolex GMT-Master II for 3,000 referrals.

The competition follows Coinbase's acquisition of Deribit for approximately US$2.9 billion in 2025, with the exchange using the event to promote cryptocurrency derivatives trading, particularly options on Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH).

Eligible traders must complete know-your-customer verification, fund a Deribit account, create an active API key and connect a Signalplus account before joining the competition, while early registrants before 7 July qualify for additional trading incentives.

Deribit said rewards will be distributed within 15 working days after the competition ends, while the final prize pool and contest duration will depend on total qualifying trading volume generated by participants.

At the time of reporting, Bitcoin price was $63,473.56.