A Perp Venue Asked Her to Trade Her Own Benchmark. She Said No

Summary

Carmen Li discusses how multiple perp marketplaces approached her to license her index, including a request to become the market maker of her own index. She explains why that creates a conflict of interest, akin to a parent deciding playtime based on personal work preference. She emphasizes the importance of neutrality, external audits, compliance, and guardrails, and insists any perp venue on her index must be regulated similar to traditional markets, especially with the product expected to launch on CME and attract institutional volume.

• Perp marketplaces courted Carmen Li's index for licensing, with one asking her to market-make her own index.
• She refused, citing a clear conflict of interest that would destroy neutrality.
• She uses a daughter analogy: the index provider's ability to set settlement prices while holding a position would create perverse incentives.
• Her firm maintains neutrality via ISCO compliance, external audits, and strict trading policies, including disclosure of other positions like Nvidia.
• She criticized venues that would mix indices with different methodologies, making it impossible for traders to maintain positions.
• She insists any perp venue using her index must have regulation and guardrails akin to traditional markets.
• Her product is soon tradable at CME, with expected institutional demand from banks, hyperscalers, neoclouds, AI firms, and energy traders.