美国电力期货交易所 Nodal Exchange 计划年底前推出以英伟达 GPU 租赁价为标的的 AI 算力期货，与 CME、ICE 及 Architect 争夺同一新兴市场

Nodal Exchange Holdings, LLC is seeking to launch futures contracts on computing power for artificial intelligence chips, joining a host of firms rushing to do the same.

Nodal, which offers electricity futures and options at hundreds of locations in North America, plans to introduce contracts before the end of the year that are based on the price to rent Nvidia Corp.’s semiconductors. The contracts will settle based on indexes compiled by data provider Compute Desk, which aggregates spot prices for renting access to Nvidia’s Blackwell and Hopper graphics processing units.

The nascent AI chip futures trading business is getting more crowded, as exchanges look to meet the growing demand from companies seeking to hedge against the volatility in the cost of computing power needed to build and run AI models.

Nodal’s plan is a challenge to Architect Financial Technologies, which Bloomberg News reported in May is also looking to use Compute Desk’s indexes. CME Group said it would launch compute futures in early October linked to an index compiled by Silicon Data, pending regulatory approval. And Intercontinental Exchange is planning its own version, using data from financial-infrastructure firm Ornn.

Nodal can set itself apart by allowing AI-related companies to hedge the price of compute and the related cost of electricity, which is also in high demand for AI, Chief Executive Officer Paul Cusenza said in an interview. “With AI ascending, there are a lot of people who now are going to be looking at two types of price risks that they weren’t looking at before.”

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That’s especially relevant with technology companies pledging to spend trillions of dollars to build out AI infrastructure, which threatens to drive up the cost of energy and computing power over the next decade.

While compute prices and electricity bills are connected by the companies that are racing to acquire supplies of both, their costs aren’t necessarily correlated, Cusenza said. To the extent that they are, however, he said Nodal would account for that in portfolio margining, meaning positions in both electricity and compute futures could offset each other to reduce the amount of money a customer needs to keep on hand to protect against losses.

Nodal is partnering with Compute Desk because its indexes are rich in data, compiled from direct transactions and price quotes from the marketplace, Cusenza said. Given Nodal’s experience with futures trading, there are already enough financial players to accept the risk for the transactions on the exchange, he added.

Cusenza is also the chairman of Nodal Clear, a clearing house providing services for Nodal Exchange and Coinbase Derivatives Exchange. Before working at Nodal, Cusenza was a co-founder and co-president of 23andMe, Inc.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sent a request for comment on compute futures contracts to the White House for review earlier in August, which could delay plans for exchanges hoping to list them. As a designated contract market, Nodal can self-certify its products including compute futures. However, the CFTC will review the self-certification and may delay or deny any listing.