Request for Comment on the Listing of Compute Derivatives Contracts

Key dates

2026-08-21

Request for Comment published in the Federal Register.

2026-10-20 Deadline

Comments are due, calculated as 60 days after Federal Register publication.

2026-10-05

Reported target date for CME Group and Silicon Data to list two compute or GPU-rental futures contracts, subject to regulatory review; this date is not established by the CFTC Request for Comment.

Suggested considerations

• Compliance teams may wish to determine whether the firm has relevant empirical data on compute prices, volumes, counterparties, supplier concentration, utilization, capacity commitments, or bilateral contract terms that could support a CFTC submission.
• Potential DCM and SEF applicants should consider mapping proposed contract specifications and settlement methodologies against CEA section 5(d), Core Principles 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 11, 17 CFR 38.150-38.160, 38.200-38.201, 38.250-38.258, 38.500, and 38.603, and the guidance in 17 CFR part 38 appendices B and C.
• Firms developing or contributing data to a compute index should consider documenting data provenance, publication practices, governance, auditability, contributor concentration, observation-window controls, fallback mechanisms, and safeguards against manipulation by capacity providers.
• FCMs, introducing brokers, and other intermediaries may wish to assess whether existing BSA/AML, KYC, onboarding, suitability, disclosure, and market-conduct controls address the risks identified for compute derivatives, including opaque bilateral markets and geopolitically sensitive supply.
• Market participants may wish to submit comments by the applicable deadline, clearly referencing RIN 3038-AF77 and the Request for Comment on the Listing of Compute Derivatives Contracts, while avoiding unnecessary personal or confidential business information because submissions will be publicly posted.
• Firms tracking product development should consider monitoring any subsequent DCM self-certification or Commission-approval filing, as the consultation itself does not authorize trading or postpone a proposed listing.

What changed

No final rule, approval, prohibition, or new compliance obligation was introduced. The CFTC is requesting comment on compute cash-market size, liquidity, transparency, supplier concentration, fungibility, benchmark methodology, deliverable supply, manipulation risks, surveillance feasibility, customer protection, heightened BSA/AML and KYC issues, retail protections, and the design and risks of perpetual compute futures. Any future designated contract market listing would remain subject to the existing Commodity Exchange Act framework, including CEA sections 5(d) and 5c(c), DCM Core Principles, 17 CFR part 38, and contract self-certification or Commission-approval procedures under 17 CFR 40.2 or 40.3. The request highlights that cash-settled contracts may be difficult to support where refe

Who is affected

• Designated contract markets considering compute derivatives listings
• Swap execution facilities considering compute-linked contracts
• Futures commission merchants and introducing brokers offering or intermediating compute derivatives
• Compute-capacity providers whose transactions or posted rates could contribute to settlement indices
• Firms developing compute reference prices, benchmarks, or market-data services
• Institutional participants seeking to hedge or trade AI-compute capacity
• Retail customers who may be offered compute derivatives

Related regulations

• Commodity Exchange Act section 3, 7 U.S.C. 5
• Commodity Exchange Act section 5c(c), 7 U.S.C. 7a-2(c)
• Commodity Exchange Act section 5(d), 7 U.S.C. 7(d)
• Commodity Exchange Act section 8a(5), 7 U.S.C. 12a(5)
• 17 CFR part 38
• 17 CFR part 38 appendices B and C
• 17 CFR 40.2
• 17 CFR 40.3
• Bank Secrecy Act and implementing BSA/AML requirements