I found this article helpful: https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-12-04/bitcoin-s-diverse-futures-contain-buyers-and-sellers https://www.bloomberg.co

I found this article helpful: https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-12-04/bitcoin-s-diverse-futures-contain-buyers-and-sellers https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-12-04/bitcoin... tl;dr: - Increase access to btc (futures can be more liquid than BC itself, which has large transaction costs and transfer times) - Probably reduce price volatility in general, but futures could also compound speculation My guess is that BTC will rise in price, and I think the recent price increases are partially explained by the news of future markets.