Apparently there have been cash-settled futures on a whole bunch of commodities for years now, so this sounds like another case of "I just discovered how finance works and I don't like it".
Bitcoin differs from commodities like gold in that it's something which can be trivially transferred electronically. It doesn't make much sense to 'buy' cash instruments when you can just get the real thing.
Between poor usability, variable fees, blockchain congestion, and security I wouldn't say transferring Bitcoin is trivial.
There may also be a regulatory angle here. ETFs that are backed by Bitcoin have been repeatedly smacked down by the SEC, but futures that merely bet on the price while not touching actual Bitcoin seem to be OK. I can imagine that this probably infuriates true believers.
Holding any commodity comes with a huge amount of risk (what do I do with these oil barrels? ... livestock? ... crops?). Settling futures would involve moving these things from place to place.
But whither bitcoin, you say? Moving those is easy! Yes, but holding them is hard. Who wants Your Favorite Mutual Fund to hold bitcoins? Not them, that's for sure. There's much more risk there than necessary.
If you hold it, you own the risk of securing it. If I were a mutual fund, I'd much rather pay a premium to someone with expertise (like an exchange or some agent of the exchange).
I agree but it is ironic, because one of the great strengths of Bitcoin is that, with just a little education and following the right basic procedures, anyone can hold it directly with very little risk. No need the need for any middlemen, custodians or trusted third parties.
But yes I can see that some people/businesses would want to outsource that risk by trusting someone else to do it properly.
> It doesn't make much sense to 'buy' cash instruments when you can just get the real thing
It does if you only want to be exposed to price movements. With futures you can get that exposure with a much lower initial outlay than if you bought (or sold) the underlying. Leverage, in other words.
That's pretty much the point of them. Whether it's something that you'd find value in is somewhat beside the point. As well as speculation, I'd expect there is probably a market for people who actually want to use bitcoin as a medium of exchange. The current price fluctuations are a pain in the arse.
