Why a Perp Exchange Asked Carmen Li to Make a Market in Her Own Index

June 27
47 mins

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Episode Description

Carmen Li is bringing GPU futures to the CME while crypto perp venues court her index. She lays out which financial wrappers actually fit which assets.


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A perpetual futures marketplace asked Carmen Li to become the market maker for her own index, and could not believe the question was serious.

Li, CEO of Silicon Data and Compute Exchange, sits down with Steven Ehrlich to explain why that request exposes a conflict of interest crypto has normalized. A former DRW options trader and Bloomberg data executive, she is building the price discovery layer for compute, the commodity she argues will soon be the largest on earth.

The conversation traces how you index a market where no two GPUs are alike, why a $600 billion buildout implies a derivatives market between $6 trillion and $30 trillion, what launching cash-settled futures on the CME takes, and why 200 data sources make manipulation harder than transaction-only feeds.

They also weigh stablecoin payments and miners pivoting to AI. As GPU futures move onshore and offshore perp venues circle her benchmark, the question becomes who gets to set the price.


Host:

Guest:

Timestamps 💡 02:54 The elevator pitch: what Silicon Data and Compute Exchange are really building

🧮 04:37 No two GPUs are alike. So how do you build an index that tracks them all?

📈 07:37 The numbers that stop you cold: 1,000% month over month growth into a market worth $6T to $30T

🏛️ 10:15 Inside the CFTC: Carmen on Mike Selig and the race to put cash settled GPU futures on the CME

🔗 13:06 Why every perp marketplace and DEX suddenly wants her GPU index

⛏️ 15:28 The great pivot: Bitcoin miners walking away from mining for long term AI compute

⚠️ 25:06 The request that set off alarm bells: be the market maker of your own index

🛡️ 33:21 The manipulation defense: why 200 data sources crush transaction only feeds

💵 36:19 Billion dollar deals in stablecoins? Why Compute Exchange is saying yes

🌐 39:34 A bifurcating economy and the trillion dollar question: can crypto ride AI's wave

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