The New Frontier of AI Competition: "Digital Oil"

In a speech at an innovation meeting in the White House, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig described the computing power (compute) required for artificial intelligence as "the most important commodity of our time," referring to it as "digital oil." Selig emphasized that "America must dominate these markets to win the AI race."

The New Frontier of Competition

Selig's statement clearly reveals that the AI competition extends beyond chip manufacturing. Competition now encompasses a broader infrastructure including graphics processing units (GPUs), energy, data centers, and computing capacity. This understanding represents an approach that views computing power as a strategic asset, arguing that who controls it will shape the AI economy.

Selig stated that he and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are working to make the U.S. the "computing capital of the world" and aiming to establish a "gold standard" regulatory framework in these markets. He also stated that they wanted "the prices of this valuable commodity to be discovered in the US and for the benchmarks to be here."

Regulatory Steps

Following this statement, the CFTC launched a formal request for comments on processing power derivatives on August 19, 2026. This 60-day request for comments aims to gather the views of industry stakeholders on issues such as market size, liquidity, manipulation risks, customer protection, and futures trading.

On the market side, CME Group announced two new futures contracts it plans to launch on October 5, 2026. These contracts will track the monthly leasing costs of Nvidia's H100 and newer Blackwell B200 chips. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) also announced its own GPU processing power futures.

However, Selig's "digital oil" analogy is being questioned by critics. Unlike physical commodities such as oil, processing power does not have a standardized and transparent market. Prices are opaquely determined due to private agreements, cloud loans, and varying contract terms. The past LIBOR scandal and failures in broadband capacity futures serve as a reminder that the market needs reliable benchmarks and a robust "cash market" behind them. This also carries the risk that benchmarks may be susceptible to manipulation.

These statements by the CFTC Chair and subsequent regulatory steps signal the birth of a new asset class in the AI economy. The creation of computing power futures could open up a new liquidity and risk management space for institutional capital investing in AI hardware. This could impact the valuation of AI-related tokens and projects. Such regulatory and structural changes in traditional markets can also affect risk appetite and capital flows, impacting crypto asset markets. The outcomes of the CFTC's commentary process and the CME's futures launch should be closely monitored in the coming period.

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