This is an obligation to buy or sell an asset at a certain time in the future at a price set today. The seller, in turn, is obliged to sell it. As an asset, agricultural commodities, currencies, energy, financial instruments, metals, etc. Some futures contracts may require physical delivery of an asset.
Futures not only work for physical assets, they can also be traded for financial assets. With futures on BTCthe contract will be based on the price of BTC. Speculators in this area can "bet" on what they think the price of BTC will be in the future. It also allows investors to speculate on the price of BTC without actually owning BTC.
This has two main implications.
The future of BTC will operate on the same principles as futures on traditional financial assets. Anticipating whether the price of BTC will rise or fall, speculators will open long or short positions on the BTC futures contract.