Compute Is A Trillion-Dollar Market Trading In Group Chats | Brett Harrison & Andrawes Bahou

How do you price a commodity that still clears in text messages?

This week, we're joined by Brett Harrison of Architect and Andrawes Bahou of Compute Desk to discuss why GPU compute needs a futures market for better pricing and hedging.

We explore the opaque broker markets quoting GPUs that don't exist, buyers paying up to 2x to get chips sooner, hyperscaler cash flow going negative, and the biggest constraints in the AI market. Enjoy!

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 Intro

00:59 Why Does Compute Need Markets?

08:53 Compute Still Trades In Group Chats

13:38 Why Finding GPUs Takes So Long

19:21 How Much Compute Should You Buy?

26:58 Why Are Compute Prices Rising?

33:27 Can Architect Take On CME?

38:13 How Do You Hedge Compute?

43:08 The Risks Behind GPU Lending

52:08 What Really Constrains The AI Market?

01:02:08 What Is Everyone Missing About Compute?

FOLLOW GUESTS

› Brett – https://x.com/BrettHarrison

› Architect – https://architect.co/

› Andrawes – https://x.com/andrawesbahou

› Compute Desk – https://www.compute-desk.com/

FOLLOW THE SHOW

› Empire – https://x.com/theempirepod

› Jason – https://x.com/jasonyanowitz

› Telegram – https://t.me/+CaCYvTOB4Eg1OWJh

› Blockworks – https://x.com/Blockworks

EVENTS

› Join us at Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia October 7th & Digital Asset 2026 London November 10-11th

https://blockworks.com/events

› TOKEN2049 Singapore is back October 7–8, bringing together 25,000 attendees, 300 speakers, and 500 exhibitors for one of the biggest weeks in crypto.

Get your TOKEN2049 tickets and 10% DISCOUNT here: https://checkout.token2049.com/events/asia?promo=DASPODCAST10&utm_source=Empire&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=daspodcast&utm_id=DASPODCAST

RESOURCES

› Learn more about Blockworks Agentic Detection:

https://blockworks.com/insights/introducing-agentic-detection-asset-monitoring-built-for-the-ai-era

DISCLAIMER

Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes. only. Any views expressedare opinions, not financial advice. Hosts and guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.