“One of the primary risks for a bitcoin miner is the time required to obtain hardware and the notion that with an exponentially growing bitcoin network, every extra delay dramatically affects the ROI of the would-be miner. Entering into a futures contract could mitigate a significant amount of that risk. One place to find such products is iCBIT, a bitcoin and bitcoin derivatives exchange. Those who buy a contract would benefit if the network difficulty increases more than expected by the expiration date and those who sell a contract would benefit if the network difficulty increases less than expected.”
