Futures is a common, and perhaps the oldest form of financial derivative with its origins dating back to ancient Greece.
The idea is quite simple, thus may set it apart from the more complicated and arguably fraudulent ones that are criticized for hiding risks from the gullible.
Although I wouldn’t conclude that Bitcoin is heading towards a crisis of its own that resembles the 2008 one for the pre-Bitcoin world, we should acknowledge the ongoing change of trend: Compared with the first generation of Bitcoiners, who are largely viewed as idealistic libertarians and crypto geeks, today, more venture capitalists and investment bankers are being attracted to this new frontier, and OKCoin may be an example of this. The company was recently joined by Changpeng Zhao, a former head of Tradebook Futures Development at Bloomberg. Although Zhao is better known among the Bitcoin circle for his stint at Blockchain.info, a popular Bitcoin wallet and block explorer service, he is also a trading systems expert and put in charge of OKCoin’s development team to develop new trading methods and adding new features to its fast expanding array.