The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has requested public comment on how U.S. exchanges should list and oversee derivatives tied to artificial intelligence computing capacity. The request, identified as RIN 3038-AF77, examines market liquidity, benchmark reliability, manipulation risks, customer protection, and perpetual compute futures. Comments will remain open for 60 days after the document appears in the Federal Register.
According to Chairman Michael S. Selig, the U.S. 'cannot win the AI race without a robust derivatives market for compute.' He described the request as an initial step toward creating 'clear rules of the road,' rather than a final regulatory position.
Key Concerns
A central concern is whether the underlying compute market is liquid and transparent enough to support reliable futures settlement. The CFTC said much of the economic value in compute markets appears to flow through private bilateral agreements, and prices can vary across providers, regions, processor models, and contract structures.
The agency asked whether a cash-settled contract should use prices that regulators cannot fully observe, verify, or monitor. It also requested information about transaction volumes, market concentration, and the proportion of trades completed at publicly disclosed prices.
Perpetual Compute Futures
The request asks whether perpetual compute futures would offer risk management functions unavailable through contracts with fixed expiration dates. Perpetual contracts have no standard expiry and generally use recurring funding payments or another mechanism to keep their prices aligned with the referenced market.
The CFTC asked whether this structure would introduce additional risks requiring new protections. The inquiry follows the agency's wider examination of perpetual derivatives, and the CFTC has already allowed certain cryptocurrency perpetual contracts.
