Bitcoin Fixed Supply Means Futures Aren't a 'Threat' to Price

The Bitcoin price analyst who created one of the industry's best-known prediction models thinks futures markets will not undermine the cryptocurrency.

In a Twitter debate on Dec. 26, PlanB, father of the Stock-to-Flow tool, dispelled fears that Bitcoin futures markets could negatively impact price.

'Inelastic' supply preserves BTC. "I don't see futures as a threat to #bitcoin," he summarized.

Bitcoin markets fell significantly, leading to widespread theories of futures manipulating markets.

Volumes were nonetheless much lower than expected - existing futures from CME, for example, traded over $500 million per day in May. The underwhelming performance thus added to the suspicion that futures' market impact was not wholly organic.

While the latter noted various differences between the cryptocurrency and gold or silver as regards futures, in essence, the pair agreed that Bitcoin's fixed supply meant that attempts to infiltrate futures markets would fail to produce long-term impact.

As Cointelegraph reported, others have voiced concerns about futures.

Those continued as recently as last month when Andreas Antonopoulos said cash-settled futures could depress the Bitcoin price.

Unlike with Bakkt, those futures traders need not take custody of cryptocurrency, and hence do not learn about its differences to fiat and the responsibilities those entail.

Even in Bakkt's case, as analyst Alex Krueger noted earlier in December, few participants choose to take custody of BTC, instead of rolling over their contracts as with regular futures contracts.