Key Takeaways
- Deribit and Signalplus opened a 600,000 USDC contest running July 6 to August 10, 2026.
- Coinbase, which bought Deribit for $2.9 billion in 2025, backs the five-week competition.
- Referral tiers reach Nvidia stock at 1,500 signups and a Rolex at 3,000 signups.
The contest, called “The Island,” starts tomorrow on July 6 at 08:00 UTC and runs through August 10 at 23:59 UTC. Deribit owns the platform where the trading happens. Signalplus supplies the analytics tools, leaderboards, and referral tracking that determine who wins.
How the prize pool grows
The base pool starts at 400,000 USDC. It expands to 500,000 USDC once global valid trading volume hits 15 billion dollars, and to 600,000 USDC at 25 billion dollars. Higher volume could also extend the contest by one to two weeks.
Options trades count double the weight of futures trades in the volume calculations. Traders using contracts that expire in seven days or less unlock additional multipliers through a mechanic Deribit calls the Island Amplifier.
The prizes on offer
The headline prize is a private island or its cash equivalent. Deribit and Signalplus also listed Rolex watches, trips to Bali and Turkey, Apple Vision Pro headsets, Nvidia stock and Hermès accessories as rewards tied to specific volume, referral and deposit thresholds.
Daily and weekly USDC payouts run alongside the larger prizes. One qualifying trade can earn a trader a share of a 100 USDC daily pool, which gives casual participants a path to rewards without competing against high- volume accounts.
Multiple ways to qualify
The competition is split into more than 11 separate arenas. Traders can compete on weekly volume, weekly profit and loss, team volume, referrals, deposits held for seven days or more, and block trades placed through Deribit’s institutional desk.
Block trading requires a minimum 200,000 USDC deposit. Traders who hit that threshold gain access to fee rebates of 30 percent to 50 percent on qualifying trades, plus a shot at a dedicated block trade prize.
Referrals carry some of the largest individual payouts. Deribit ties Outpost rewards to the number of qualified traders someone brings in, with tiers that reach NVIDIA stock at 1,500 referrals and a Rolex GMT-Master II at 3,000.
Setup takes several steps
Participants need a funded Deribit account with an active API key, then a linked Signalplus account to register for the individual or team leaderboards. Deribit recommends completing KYC verification before the contest starts, since account matching and reward distribution depend on it.
Traders who register before July 7 qualify for early bonuses, including three free options contracts and entry into a volume sprint that rewards the first accounts to reach 200 million dollars in volume by July 12.
What this means for traders
Coinbase completed its acquisition of Deribit in August 2025 for roughly 2.9 billion dollars. This contest is one of the clearest signs yet that Coinbase is using Deribit’s derivatives business to pull in active options traders, particularly those trading short-dated bitcoin ( BTC) and ethereum ( ETH) contracts.
Rewards are paid within 15 working days of the final results, either as the listed prize or a capped USDC equivalent. Deribit and Signalplus have not published live leaderboards, so standings update only at set intervals through August 10.
