In my opinion, Futures are the miners insurance policy. They hold BTC for long positions and can short it with futures. This allows them to continue setting the higher transaction fees. Theyre making money hand over fist like this.
Can you explain this a little more? If the miners are shorting Bitcoin futures then they are adding more risk in their "portfolio".
Plus I do not see any relation of shorting futures and setting high transaction fees. It is arguable and unproven that the miners flood the mempool to raise the fees. It is the users who set the fees.
Well, there hasnt been much movement today. So Im not sure I was on the right track. It was just a theory, but doesnt seem like the future expiring today has had any major impact in the prices.