Quote from: RappingSniper on September 14, 2014, 05:32:36 PM

Quote from: Dawnbreaker on September 14, 2014, 03:46:29 PM

I don't understand, what is going on? A swap?

derivatives man. This is really good news. Small merchants might fear doing business in bitcoins because the effects of price fluctuations far outweigh the profit they make from the sale. Let's say I make a deal to sell you 9 gallons of industrial solvent in 9 months. You agree to do the deal for X bitcoins. Without swaps I'm now exposed to price risk for the next 9 months. if bitcoins drop in value relative to the USD I can end up losing money on the deal. Now that I can swap I can sell someone the promise of your X bitcoins in 9 months for a cash amount that's decided today and now I don't need to worry about the price of bitcoins because I'm no longer exposed to the risk.
Swaps and derivatives are a big part of what makes international currency markets work too since it give vendors more options to deal with clients from countries with volatile currencies.

Derivatives also increase your options for handling bitcoins. If Puts and Calls become possible, then you can start constructing positions that profit when the price is volatile in either direction or other helpful setups. Derivatives themselves are a zero-sum game by design but they can add a lot of flexibility to the main market they support

These types of agreements (buying certain products over long periods of time) is more typical of business to business transactions and so far there is little to no market for these kinds of transactions. Before long term b2b transactions involving bitcoin will start to happen, b2b transactions involving bitcoin for intimidate delivery and payment will need to come first. I think at first the swaps/futures contracts will be used primarily by speculators, however over the longer term it may be used in the way you describe