Arthur Hayes2026-10-07 04:53:02Arthur Hayes says FLOP testnet will launch in October, with mainnet genesis targeted for Q1 next yearBitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said at TOKEN2049 in Singapore that FLOP Network, an AI Agent payments project, is now running an internal development network and expects to launch a 90-day testnet in October this year. He said the project is aiming to bring its mainnet genesis block online in the first quarter of next year. During the testnet period, users who mine, validate, or simply use the network through AI Agents will be eligible for FLOP Token. Hayes also said FLOP plans to start releasing 25% of its token supply for the next 10 years through an airdrop beginning in late October, and that the project will not hold a presale. Once the mainnet is live, he said FLOP Token will only be obtainable through mining or by buying from miners. Hayes described FLOP as a native payment network for AI Agents, built around a design in which the token maps directly to the computing resources AI Agents need.00
Arthur Hayes2026-09-30 02:34:15Arthur Hayes says current cryptocurrencies are not built for AI agentsBitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said at Korea Blockchain Week 2026 that no existing cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and stablecoins, can truly serve as a native currency for AI agents. In his view, a currency used by agents must be able to convert directly and transparently into the computing power those systems need to survive and operate. Hayes is now backing a new project called Flop Network, which aims to build a spot compute and payments network designed for AI agents. The project plans to use FLOP as its native currency and connect agents with GPU compute providers through verifiable AI inference tasks. Hayes said the effort is still in its early stage, according to the report cited by Techub News.470
Arthur Hayes2026-09-10 06:37:10Arthur Hayes says Flop Labs yellow paper repository is live, Technocore to launch multi-agent poetry contestArthur Hayes said on X that the Flop Labs yellow paper code repository is now live. He described it as the normative technical specification for FLOP Network, outlining the design of its verifiable inference settlement layer. Hayes also said Technocore is preparing a poetry contest that will require coordination among multiple agents. The detailed competition rules and prize information have not been released yet and, according to his post, are scheduled to be announced tomorrow. The update covers both a technical milestone tied to FLOP Network documentation and an upcoming AI-focused event under the Technocore name.1000
Flop Network2026-09-07 08:49:12Flop yellow paper outlines 2.48346 billion FLOP genesis supply and five halvings over 10 yearsArthur Hayes shared the Flop Network yellow paper, labeled v0.5.0 draft, with some sections still marked as planned. The document says FLOP will launch with a genesis supply of 2.48346 billion tokens, all allocated to miners, validators, and Agent airdrops, with no VC presale or auction. Block rewards start at 96 FLOP per block and halve every 730 days through a sequence of 96, 48, 24, 12, 6, and 3, for five halvings over 10 years, after which issuance stays fixed at 3 FLOP per block. Reward distribution is set at 75% for miners, 10% for validators, 10% for Agents, and 5% for stakers, although the detailed allocation rules for the Agent and staking pools have not yet been set. The paper also says Flop Labs and the foundation will each receive a separate subsidy of 8 FLOP per block, declining on the same halving schedule and reaching zero after the fifth halving, with about 1.955 billion FLOP distributed over 10 years. On the technical side, the network uses BABE for block production, AlephBFT for finality, and a four-layer PoUI verification stack.1100
Arthur Hayes2026-08-25 08:50:22Arthur Hayes says Flop Network is building a currency for AI agents to buy computeBitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes used an Altcoin Daily podcast appearance to lay out the thesis behind Flop Network, a project that aims to make FLOP the native currency for AI agents. Hayes argued that today’s AI products bill users in tokens, yet there is no unified standard for what a token represents across models and no global market that clearly prices raw compute in a verifiable way. His answer is to anchor value to FLOPs, or floating-point operations, and build a decentralized network where compute can be requested, supplied and ultimately paid for with a native asset. Hayes said Flop Network is designed around two needs he believes AI agents will have: access to compute and the ability to store memory or context without asking permission from a centralized intermediary. He described the protocol as a “Proof of Useful Inference” blockchain, where miners complete inference tasks measured in FLOPS and receive token rewards. Rather than sell the token early, he said the team plans to distribute it through network participation, with about 20% of the projected 10-year supply currently earmarked for airdrops, subject to change. He also outlined an early roadmap. Testnet is expected to go live sometime in late October this year, run for about 90 days, and, if there are no major issues, be followed by a mainnet launch in the first quarter of next year. Hayes said FLOP is not available for sale now and warned that anyone claiming otherwise is running a scam.1160
Arthur Hayes2026-08-24 08:44:23Arthur Hayes says Flop Network may airdrop 20% of 10-year token supplyArthur Hayes shared new details about his startup project, Flop Network, during a recent video interview on the Altcoin Daily podcast. In the interview, Hayes said the project is expected to allocate 20% of its total token supply over a 10-year period to an airdrop. He also made clear that the figure is not final and could still be revised later. According to Hayes, the reason for disclosing the number now is to gather feedback from the community. The remarks offer one of the first public outlines of how Flop Network is thinking about token distribution, though no additional launch timeline or allocation details were included in the source material.1000
