I’m thinking on the fly…

If they’re buying spot bitcoin today in order to sell it into a future’s contract, then the future price must be greater than today’s price. Because the arbitrage opportunity (future - spot) has to not only generate a profit but also account for their financing cost of holding the bitcoin during that period of time.

Also, wouldn’t one think that in such a trade there is MORE demand in today’s spot market which would drive today’s price UP while the future’s price would go down?