Dear Coinapult,
Please explain who gets the difference between future price of bitcoin ($646 for December contract, according to icbit.se) and the current price ($578). According to my calculations, it is 12%, not 1-2% you have mentioned.
In other words, if I move one bitcoin to icbit.se and short December contract, I get $646 worth of bitcoins in December. With you, I only get $578 minus fees and spread. (In fact, I don't even have to move whole bitcoin to icbit.se, only 1/leverage worth of bitcoin).
Bingo.
This is less about "making the world a better place" and more about certain co-founders making back what they lost in the Mt. Gox implosion.
Locks is not a futures contract with a specific date at which it can be redeemed. Users can unLock their coins at any time. A futures contract would demand a price premium because the bitcoins are irredeemable for an allocated period of time.
this is simply not true. cryptoexchanges work 24/7, so user can close his position any time he wants.
Locks allows basic Bitcoin users the ability to protect their value from fluctuations
so does selling futures, and with much better results, it seems.
without having to be a professional trader.
you don't have to be a professional trader to realize that having $X worth of bitcoin is better than having $X - 12% worth of bitcoin.
but I get your unspoken point - you've meant to say that your service is targeting users who are so dumb that they can't figure out how to sell futures on icbit.se. nice business model, bro.