Modern Money SmartPod

With trillions of dollars flowing into AI infrastructure, market participants are looking for transparent ways to price their investments and manage risk. That is where a financial product like futures comes into play. The notion that GPU compute could one day trade like soybeans or crude oil is quickly shifting from a Silicon Valley pipe dream … to reality. In this episode, Peter Keavey, managing director of energy and environmental products at CME Group, explains the role that futures, specifically compute futures, can play in expanding this nascent market. 

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Learn more about Compute Futures from CME Group.

Highlights

01:08 - What Are Compute Futures? 
02:45 - Key Market Participants
03:11 - Scale of the Compute Market & Importance of Price Signals
04:59 - Market Risks: Supply Chain, Energy & Power Dynamics
06:57 - Weather Risks & Geographical Considerations
08:17 - Data Center Locations & Attribute Pricing
09:59 - Future Chip Generations & CME Innovation Strategy
11:48 - Managing Industry Developments & AI R&D Trends
13:33 - Expected Launch Timeline 

A wave of innovation from the industry, accompanied by policy uncertainty and geopolitical flare-ups, made the summer of 2026 a busy one for the derivatives industry. Futures Industry Association President and CEO Walt Lukken returns to the show to help make sense of all the headlines and discuss where the industry is heading when it comes to new markets, new products and new regulatory frameworks.

00:54 - Walt's View on Industry Innovation & Market Trends
02:11 - Insights from CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee
04:22 - The Public Policy Debate Around Prediction Markets
07:32 - Economic Purpose vs. Entertainment Contracts
09:23 - The Fate of Crypto Regulation & The Clarity Act
12:40 - Perpetual Futures & Impact on Traditional Benchmarks
15:54 - Tokenization & Modernizing Payment Infrastructure
18:48 - FIA Global Initiatives & Upcoming Events

Peter McMurtrie, a partner at West Monroe, stops by the show to discuss the evolution of AI in the insurance industry. Peter says the industry is currently focused on agentic AI and workflow orchestration, and he highlights key challenges such as data quality, governance and workforce readiness. Peter urges firms to avoid getting caught up in "AI Theater" by having a clear business case and ensuring the right use of AI tools. The conversation also touches on the potential for AI to improve decision velocity and quality in complex claims and underwriting.

More Insights from West Monroe

• Insurance Modernization Under Pressure
• Powering the Future of Insurance with People and AI

Ken Hullings, EVP Client Success - Institution Channel at LPL Financial, stops by the show to discuss the state of the financial advisory industry and outline key findings from LPL's Institution Benchmark Report. The report analyzes growth trends across more than 1,000 banks and credit unions on the LPL platform, representing over 7,000 financial representatives. This year's findings reveal a critical vulnerability: despite strong year-over-year growth; just 20% is organic, leaving most institutions exposed to market shifts and advisor turnover that they cannot control. 

Ken also discusses four key trends firms would do well to embrace and also shares his bold predictions about how the advisory industry will evolve in the next year.  

Read the full Institution Benchmark Report.

It's time to end our fantastic week at the Futures Industry Association's Global Cleared Markets Conference. And who better to help us bring this incredible week to a close than Nicholas Garrow, the Chief Strategy Officer at Trading Technologies (TT). 

Garrow shares his insights on 24/7 trading and discusses the bifurcation of interest in prediction markets between financial and non-financial events. Garrow also recaps key points from the panel TT hosted on prediction markets for institutional traders. He then outlines TT's new FX trading capabilities, fixed income initiative, and how the recent acquisition of Open Gamma helps clients with margin optimization. Additionally, Garrow highlights the growing interest in energy and power trading, emphasizing TT's multi-asset strategy and commitment to enhancing trader services.

Prediction markets have been a hot topic at the Futures Industry Association's Global Cleared Markets Conference ... and that has been music to the ears of Fateen Sharaby, Head of Index Derivatives at Bloomberg. 

Sharaby joins the show to discuss the work Bloomberg is doing to source data for prediction markets. He also explains how Bloomberg is expanding into new products like credit index futures and equity futures. And finally, Sharaby notes Bloomberg's partnership with MIAX and the anticipation surrounding the upcoming launch of MIAX Bloomberg 500 and Bloomberg 100 Index futures and options.

Day 3 at the Futures Industry Association's Global Cleared Markets Conference kicks off with a conversation with Gregory Yu, Head of Markets at Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX). Yu highlights HKEX's expanded focus on retail participation, noting a 20-25% increase in weekly stock options volume and plans to launch 20 more retail-friendly options. Yu provides an update on Hong Kong's FIC market development roadmap and delves into the launch of China government bond futures and revamped gold futures. And finally, Yu predicts that future discussions at FIA Boca will likely center on the practical implementation of tokenization, Blockchain settlement and other new technologies.

JB Mackenzie, Vice President and General Manager, Futures and Prediction Markets at Robinhood, makes a triumphant return to our FIA Boca lineup. During our conversation at last year's conference, Mackenzie predicted that prediction markets would be a hot topic at this year's Boca. Guess what: JB was right.

During this year's chat on the sidelines of the Futures Industry Association's Global Cleared Markets Conference, JB highlights the growing participation of retail investors in futures markets, particularly in volatile sectors like metals, crypto and energy. JB discusses the rapid evolution of prediction markets and emphasizes the importance of market controls to prevent manipulation. JB then predicts what the future holds for discussions on 24/7 trading, the integration of prediction markets into financial ecosystems and the potential of perpetual futures.

Day Two of our coverage from the Futures Industry Association's Global Cleared Markets Conference continues with this conversation with Euronext Chief Diversification Officer Camille Beudin. Beudin shares his insights on some of the key topics at FIA Boca, including 24/7 trading, tokenization, and prediction markets. 

Beudin also outlines how Euronext's strategy focuses on three main objectives: growing non-volume-related revenues, expanding into FICC, and launching new products. Upcoming initiatives include power derivatives in Europe, container freight futures, and new dairy contracts.

After missing last year's FIA Boca, CoinFund President Chris Perkins is back this year and he is pumped up about many of the issues that are hot topics here at the Futures Industry Association's Global Cleared Markets Conference.  Perhaps what's most exciting for Perkins is that this year's Boca seems to represent a 'dance party,' whereby TradFi firms appear to be searching for crypto firms to dance with and accelerate their reach into digital assets. Perkins also discusses:

• The rise of decentralized protocols like Hyper Liquid, which now handle 30% non-crypto volumes. 
• The importance of the Clarity Act for institutional adoption, along with the SEC and CFTC working closely together to harmonize and clarify regulations.
• The role of AI agents in optimizing yields as they become a major market force.