The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (U.S. derivatives regulator) is asking the public to comment on derivatives linked to computing capacity, signaling that U.S. regulators are preparing to treat computing power as a commodity that could support its own futures market. The request for comment was submitted to the White House for review and made public on August 17. The step comes as CME Group and data analytics firm Silicon Data work toward an October 5 launch of futures contracts tied to GPU rental-price benchmarks, pending CFTC approval. The proposed contracts would reference daily and hourly GPU rental prices to create standardized price discovery in a market that has historically lacked consistent benchmarks, Silicon Data CEO Carmen Li said. If approved, GPU futures could give AI developers a way to hedge computing costs, help cloud providers manage capacity and revenue, and offer investors direct exposure to AI infrastructure pricing without owning hardware. The comment process also highlights unresolved questions around benchmark integrity and market manipulation in a market that is still developing.