It's possible that futures trading will lend legitimacy and foster greater use of bitcoin. That was the thinking when it was announced that bitcoin futures would be traded. Bestselling author and Wall Street veteran Jim Rickards, however, has warned of a potential downside to futures trading, namely that smaller, newer holders of bitcoin might get ripped off by bitcoin whales via the futures market. Rickards pointed out a way it might be used to rip off newer and smaller bitcoin investors via the following tweet.

I want to make it clear that I firmly believe that blockchain/distributed ledger technology will change the world in a fundamental way and that some cryptocurrencies will explode in value in the coming years, but Rickards is a very smart guy who is quite knowledgeable about the financial markets. It's worth considering what he has to say about bitcoin in particular.