The article doesn't even mention if the exchange allows shorts. It's a "futures" exchange. Every transaction is basically one party being long vs the other par

The article doesn't even mention if the exchange allows shorts. It's a "futures" exchange. Every transaction is basically one party being long vs the other party being short. The parties are agreeing to buy/sell something from each other at some point in the future. For example, an oil driller wants to assured of receiving a certain price when selling 1000 barrels of crude oil 3 months in the future (they haven't pumped the oil out of the ground yet). An oil refiner wants to lock in a guaranteed price for 1000 barrels of oil they will buy 3 months from now. This particular exchange isn't for oil or corn or cotton or soybean futures. It's for Bitcoin futures. There are currently very sound business reasons for futures contracts on commodities. But not, IMO, for Bitcoin futures. Which makes this whole enterprise nothing more or less than simple speculation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futures_contract https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futures_contract