Dogecoin might have begun as a joke, but this April Fool's Day, it's getting serious attention. Coinbase Derivatives plans to kick off futures trading for the top dog in memecoins, alongside litecoin and bitcoin cash.

On March 7, through three separate letters to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the crypto exchange announced its intention to launch monthly cash-settled futures contracts for dogecoin, litecoin and bitcoin cash. These communications, directed to CFTC Secretary Christopher Kirkpatrick, detailed the proposed contracts' sizes, settlement methods (leveraging a benchmark rate by Market Vector), and structure.

Coinbase highlighted in these letters that it's leveraging the self-certification route under CFTC Regulation 40.2(a) to list these futures contracts. …