BitCoin Gets a Futures Market

Posted by timothy on Sunday September 30, 2012 @11:48AM from the prices-are-information-units dept.

fireballrus writes "There is one more way to use your BitCoins rather than buying weed or socks. Recently, a Bitcoin Exchange called ICBIT quietly introduced a futures market, obviously using Bitcoins as its main currency. Gold futures trade roughly at 137 BTC/tr.oz and Sweet Crude Oil at 7.3 BTC/bbl. This may play a positive role in the Bitcoin economy which needs more ways to actually use coins instead of mining them." While this sounds intriguing, I'd like to hear a good case for why BitCoin makes sense in this context.

1 of 467 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:This is great news! by Jane+Q.+Public · 2012-09-30 13:57 · Score: 5, Insightful

No doubt.

Futures and derivatives are NOT "capitalism". They are gambling. Pure and simple. This has been one of the main downfalls of banks and Wall Street, directly contributing to the 2008 debacle.

We should not base our economy on fake money. Investment is fine. And all investment is "gambling" to a certain extent... at least if it's done honestly.

BUT... speculation and derivatives are PURE gambling. It's nothing more than a government-sponsored casino.