Why? GPUs are not perishable like onions. They do depreciate, but they don’t rot.
If you use or sell a ton of GPU time, hedging against future increases/decreases in cost per time unit is what futures are actually for. Cash vs physical settlement is irrelevant. Speculators assume the risk on the other side, typically. Nobody has enough margin in their futures account to corner the market on GPU time and there is typically a position limit for futures contracts (aside from market makers, they’re allowed unlimited futures contracts to allow hedging)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_Futures_Act
If you use or sell a ton of GPU time, hedging against future increases/decreases in cost per time unit is what futures are actually for. Cash vs physical settlement is irrelevant. Speculators assume the risk on the other side, typically. Nobody has enough margin in their futures account to corner the market on GPU time and there is typically a position limit for futures contracts (aside from market makers, they’re allowed unlimited futures contracts to allow hedging)