Quote from: deisik on March 07, 2014, 06:10:29 PM

Please, be concise. Bitcoin futures would exist just for the same reasons that currency futures and commodity futures exist. The primary aim of futures is hedging against price volatility whether it is currency or commodity. And yes, there are even futures for commodities that don't even exist yet (consider crops)...

Can you explain to me what would be the advantage of buying a bitcoin futures contract instead of just buying bitcoins at spot? How would that advantage outweight the risk of losing bitcoins due to the bitcoin exchange bankruptcy? Can you really afford the risk of keeping your bitcoins at the exchange for 1-2 months? Why and who would do that, if bitcoins are available to withdraw now/deposit back within 1 hour if needed, compared to those crops that will be available only when harvested and that most traders just trade paper contracts of anyway?

Bitcoin futures can exist, but noone would use them, because it makes no sense to.
Bitcoin exchanges don't have incentives to introduce futures contracts, because they cannot be bailed out if they screw up.

Do you mean bitcoin miners would sell their future bitcoin production? That'd be interesting, but that requires much heavier levels of regulation than now, having them registered as companies, etc. In that case, yeah, futures contracts might have a chance.