The prediction market platform Kalshi is in talks to raise funds to develop a platform aimed at trading compute futures, according to Reuters. Kalshi hasn’t confirmed the development.
Kalshi raised $1 billion last month at a $40 billion valuation, led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and investment management firm Wellington Management. The October fundraise came just over five months after Kalshi raised $1 billion in a Coatue-led round that valued the company at $22 billion.
Venturing into compute futures is possibly intrinsic to a broader strategy of the prediction market startup putting its eggs into other baskets, challenging the likes of CME Group and New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange(ICE).
Compute futures let traders hedge or speculate on the future prices of computing resources, such as cloud and graphics processing unit (GPU) capacity, according to the derivatives marketplace CME Group. The derivatives help companies manage price volatility, lock in future processing power, and cut costs in a fast-growing technology market.
Earlier this year, CME Group partnered with Silicon Data to launch compute futures later this year, which hasn’t received regulatory approval yet. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission reportedly has delayed approving futures contracts linked to the cost of renting graphics processing units to address concerns over price transparency and potential manipulation in this emerging asset class.
