Bitcoin educator Andreas Antonopoulos says that while futures markets may indeed place a damper on the cryptocurrency's price, the stakes are different to what you might think. In a Nov. 27 interview with YouTuber "Ivan on Tech," Antonopoulos argued against the grain of commonplace fears about the adverse price impact that Bitcoin futures trading has on spot prices.

Cash-settled Bitcoin futures - which have been trading since December 2017 on both the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Exchange - have consistently drawn suspicion from traders and analysts, with many contending that Bitcoin's price is vulnerable to manipulation in advance of contract settlements. "We know for a fact that when the Bitcoin bubble started to go up really fast in 2017, the U.S. Treasury decided to fast-track the deployments of futures markets in order to stop that bubble." Importantly, Antonopoulos said, futures critics often overlook the real stakes of cash-settled cryptocurrency shorting.

As reported, Intercontinental Exchange's Bakkt platform has recently confirmed its forthcoming launch of a cash-settled Bitcoin futures contract. The new product will be settled against data from Bakkt's existing physically-delivered Bakkt Bitcoin Monthly Futures contract - a pioneering product that was the first to give futures traders direct exposure to the underlying cryptocurrency.