Binance just made it possible to trade gold and silver options on a crypto exchange, settled in stablecoins, through a fully regulated entity in Abu Dhabi.

The exchange launched European-style options on gold and silver on July 29 through Nest Exchange Limited, its entity regulated under the Abu Dhabi Global Market framework. The contracts are cash-settled in USDT, meaning no one’s shipping gold bars. Traders get price exposure to precious metals using a benchmark sourced from multiple independent third-party feeds designed for traditional metals markets.

From perpetual futures to options: the commodity playbook

This isn’t Binance’s first foray into commodities. The exchange rolled out USDT-settled perpetual futures contracts for gold on January 5 and silver on January 7 of this year.

Peak daily volumes for the gold perpetuals hit $7.77 billion. Silver wasn’t far behind at $7.27 billion.

The options launch builds directly on that momentum. Shunyet Jan, Binance’s head of exchange and trading, pointed to the strong interest in commodity perpetuals as a signal that traders wanted more sophisticated instruments.

Unlike American-style options, which can be exercised at any time before expiration, European-style contracts can only be exercised at expiry. Traders are making a bet on where gold or silver will be at a specific future date, not trying to time an exit along the way.

Guardrails for retail traders

Binance built in a notable restriction. Retail traders can buy calls and puts, but they cannot write (sell) options. Only dedicated market makers handle the writing side of the equation.

Writing options exposes the seller to theoretically unlimited losses on the call side. By prohibiting retail participants from taking that role, Binance caps their maximum downside to the premium paid for each contract.

Binance has indicated it may eventually allow limited retail options writing under more stringent regulatory conditions.

The regulatory foundation

Nest Exchange Limited received comprehensive licenses under the ADGM framework in December 2025. That licensing is what makes this launch possible.