Can a Cash-Settled Futures Contract Still Be Used for Hedging Purposes?
Yes, absolutely. Hedging is primarily about mitigating price risk, which a cash-settled contract achieves by locking in a future sale or purchase price.
For a miner, selling a cash-settled contract hedges against a drop in Bitcoin price, and the final cash settlement offsets the loss in the physical inventory value. Physical delivery is not required for effective price risk management.