ComputeFutures
Cash-settled, perpetual index futures on inference compute. Priced against the Qi energy index, contracted and settled in QUAI.
Index-style, not commodity
A cash-settled index futures contract. The underlying is a standard unit of inference compute, valued by the energy required to produce it. Like an equity index future, no asset is ever delivered.
No hardware delivers
Just as E-mini S&P 500 futures do not deliver 500 stocks, a Compute Future does not deliver hardware. It settles cash against the Qi index — what the market says a unit of compute is worth in energy terms at expiry.
Priced in the energy dollar
Qi is unencumbered by anything except the direct cost of electricity — no speculative premium, no scarcity premium. It is the cleanest available benchmark for pricing a compute unit against physical work.
Contract logic on-chain
Margin and settlement flow through QUAI, the programmable token carrying the economic infrastructure. The convertible controller keeps Qi and QUAI equivalent, so energy-indexed prices resolve cleanly into settlement.
Physical delivery
- The long may take delivery of the underlying commodity at expiry
- Price anchored to the cost of producing and transporting a physical good
- Built for producers and consumers of tangible materials: oil, gas, grain
- Delivery logistics and storage costs are baked into the contract structure
Access, not delivery
- No hardware changes hands. You are not taking possession of a GPU
- You reserve the right to run computation through hardware at a future date
- Settlement is purely financial: cash against the Qi index price
- Contract logic lives entirely on Quai Network in QUAI
No expiry, no roll.
Compute demand is continuous rather than seasonal. A dated contract forces every hedger to roll quarterly, and every roll is a cost and a basis risk that has nothing to do with the underlying exposure.
A perpetual contract holds the position open indefinitely and uses a funding rate to keep the contract tethered to the index. Hedgers pay for the exposure they actually want, continuously, instead of paying a calendar tax four times a year.
A contract that survives a hardware generation
When a new chip class arrives, the index re-specs the work definition rather than rolling the contract. The unit is delivered work per unit of energy, so a generational shift changes the efficiency of producing that unit — it does not change what the unit is.
Inference operators
Anyone carrying compute as a variable cost. Cap your input price the way an airline caps fuel.
Capacity owners
Data centres and miners with power contracts, monetizing forward capacity before it is consumed.
Model developers
Hedging the cost of a training run scheduled months out, against a rate that is metered rather than quoted.
Basis traders
Expressing views on the energy cost of intelligence, and keeping the funding rate honest.