Arthur Hayes has outlined a proposed market structure for Flop Network, saying its native FLOP token could help turn artificial-intelligence computing power into a tradable commodity.
The BitMEX co-founder and chief executive of Flop Labs described the concept in a Monday Substack essay, according to Cointelegraph. His proposal comes two days after he said he had sold his holdings of several altcoins, including Ether, Ethena and Uniswap, from Maelstrom’s directional trading book.
How the FLOP compute market would work
Hayes suggested measuring the computing power supplied for each AI inference task. Transaction data from those services could then be used to establish a spot price for computing power, with that price denominated in FLOP tokens.
AI inference is the process of using a trained AI model to produce an output, such as a response or prediction. In Hayes’ proposed system, the amount of compute delivered during those tasks would provide the underlying measure for a market price. He said there is currently no universal benchmark for the cost of AI computing power.
“If Flop becomes the payments network for AI agents, then it follows that the $FLOP/compute exchange rate will be the global benchmark for spot compute,” Hayes wrote. He added that a liquid spot market for computing power could support derivatives linked to that price.
Derivatives are financial contracts whose value is linked to an underlying asset or measure. In this case, the proposed underlying reference would be the spot price of AI compute rather than a conventional commodity such as oil or metals.
Flop Network’s broader plan
Flop Labs is developing a network intended to let AI agents pay for computing and decentralized memory services. Hayes became the company’s CEO in August, when he also said Flop was planning a “massive airdrop” during the fourth quarter of 2026.
The idea would connect the network’s payment function with a market for computing capacity. However, the source material describes Hayes’ design as a proposal and does not provide details about a launch date for the spot or derivatives markets, their contract specifications, or the mechanism for setting FLOP’s value.
The potential scale of the underlying sector was highlighted in a July 2026 report from Boston Consulting Group. BCG estimated that the AI compute market could grow from about $360 billion in 2025 to roughly $2.3 trillion by 2030.
Hayes’ recent token sales
Hayes’ comments about Flop followed his statement on Saturday that he had “dumped it all” and taken profits from ETH, ENA and UNI positions in Maelstrom’s directional trading book. He cited “dicey” macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions.
Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain later identified token sales worth about $22 million from wallets linked to Hayes. The reported amounts included $15 million in ETH, $2.7 million in ENA, $2.2 million in UNI, $1.2 million in Ether.fi’s ETHFI, $398,000 in Aerodrome Finance’s AERO, $244,000 in Pendle’s PENDLE and $214,000 in Zama’s ZAMA.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data as of October 25, 2026, at 22:39 (UTC+3:30) showed:
- Cardano (ADA): $0.2052460416, down 0.31% over 24 hours and 6.04% over seven days.
- Litecoin (LTC): $56.8706152855, up 0.18% over 24 hours and down 2.91% over seven days.
- Compound (COMP): $21.1287447338, down 10.42% over 24 hours and up 0.3% over seven days.
- Vision (VSN): $0.0386045059, down 0.69% over 24 hours and 7.74% over seven days.
