The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is facing two closely watched derivatives developments: a planned public consultation on AI computing capacity futures and a new Kalshi filing for perpetual futures tied to U.S. stock indexes.
Compute futures review. According to an Aug. 17 Bloomberg report, the CFTC is preparing to request public input on futures linked to AI computing capacity. The agency reportedly sent a draft request to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review. Once that review ends, the CFTC could open a public comment period lasting 30 or 60 days, though no request had appeared in the Federal Register by Aug. 18.
The regulatory process comes as CME Group targets Oct. 5 for two compute futures contracts using Silicon Data’s daily GPU rental benchmarks. CME and Silicon Data first announced their partnership on May 12, with CME Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Duffy saying, “Compute is the new oil of the 21st century.” The planned launch remains subject to regulatory review. Intercontinental Exchange is also developing competing compute contracts using Ornn’s Compute Price Index and later announced another planned product using NativX’s COIL Index.
Kalshi perpetual futures filing. Kalshi filed documents with the CFTC on Aug. 18 seeking approval to launch perpetual futures on U.S. stock indexes, according to CNBC. Its proposed US500 perpetual futures would track the MerQube U.S. Large Cap Index. The same day, Kalshi also applied to offer perpetual futures linked to copper. The company previously received approval for crypto-linked perpetual futures in late May and filed in July for products tied to gold and silver.
The CFTC has not indicated when it will rule on Kalshi’s application. The broader regulatory process could influence how derivatives are structured and traded across both traditional and digital asset markets.
