Quote from: dannyjpw on February 21, 2011, 09:49:39 PM

Quote from: BitterTea on February 21, 2011, 09:42:27 PM

You could offer call options to people who are speculating that the value will increase.

no you couldn't, because there is no market established to enforce such a contract denominated in bitcoins.

I guess you could try writing your own contract but it would be shaky ground.

~~No contract necessary...~~

http://wiki.bitcoin-otc.com/wiki/Option_orders

to be more clear, this is the scenario I am referring to:

Quote

The seller creates an escrow account on ClearCoin and sends to that account BTC in the amount of the total contract size plus enough to accommodate the escrow service fee (there is an escrow fee of 1% on the amount that exceeds 100 BTC). The expiration option chosen must land on a day that is no earlier than the expiration day.
   The seller then sends notice to buyer and includes the link to the ClearCoin escrow account page to the buyer.
   The buyer verifies that the escrow account page shows the correct Bitcoin address then sends to the seller the non-refundable premium.
   The buyer may exercise the option by sending payment to seller in the amount of contract size times the strike price.
   The buyer then uses the link to the escrow page and submits the request that the Bitcoin be released. This can be performed at any time before 12:00 am PDT of the day following expiration.
   Once exercised, the contract settlement is T+2 (The contracted amount must be delivered to buyer's Bitcoin address within 2 business days after the option was exercised.)