Hyperbolic co-founder and CEO Jasper Zhang is proposing a market for companies to resell unused graphics processing unit (GPU) reservations, offering a way to recover costs when computing needs change.
A company can hedge a rise in GPU rental prices and still be left paying for machines it has reserved but no longer needs, Zhang argues. His proposal would let that company seek another buyer for the capacity. Whether such a resale market takes shape remains separate from the futures contracts exchanges have announced.
CME Group has proposed futures linked to rental-price indexes for H100 and B200 GPUs. Each contract represents 730 GPU-hours and would settle in cash against a reference price. It would not deliver access to machines, and CME has yet to set a trading date.
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and Ornn have also announced plans for U.S. dollar-denominated, cash-settled GPU compute futures, subject to regulatory approval. The CME and ICE-Ornn proposals address changes in price; neither provides a way to transfer an unused reservation.
Hyperbolic already operates Forge, software that brings GPUs from different providers into one provisioning system. When it introduced Forge in June, the company described its first product as providing bare-metal provisioning and instance management for on-demand GPU compute. Zhang’s proposed resale market would go beyond those existing functions.
If customers could transfer reservations, those holding unused capacity might recover some of its cost, while buyers could obtain compute without making the original commitment. Zhang points to electricity markets as a precedent, arguing that physical delivery, standard products and transparent prices helped support financial trading there. That is his case for the model, rather than an established outcome for GPU capacity.
Finding a dependable reference price is also a concern for regulators. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said compute rates differ by provider, region and contract terms, with many deals negotiated privately. It has sought comment on whether available price data and safeguards can support futures settlement.
The CFTC added 45 days to its review of CME’s proposed contracts to examine issues it described as novel or complex. That review period runs through the end of Nov. 9, 2026; CME’s revised advisory leaves the trading date undetermined.
