[arcticbull]

Not entirely, right, shorting the future requires you put up margin. Current maintenance margin requirement is about $100,000 per contract, which covers 5 BTC, notionally $258,000.

Margin interest at the institutional level is 0.75% per year, so you're free to collateralize your position with something other than cash or bitcoin. You could have 1 short /BTCG1, collateralized by a portfolio of other investments, and buy BTC to cover at an exchange somewhere.

Yeah it's not risk free, but it's certainly not 27% per annum.

I do agree it's a simplification, however.

[JumpCrisscross]

> Current maintenance margin requirement is about $100,000 per contract, which covers 5 BTC, notionally $258,000.

If the price changes this goes up. With something as volatile as Bitcoin, that’s a material risk.