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More →Arthur Hayes Plans to Build Derivatives Around AI Compute
Arthur Hayes published a new essay on October 27 outlining futures and perpetual swaps tied to Flop Network’s proposed compute market, where AI agents would pay for computing power using FLOP. The plan aims to establish a reference price for compute that traders could use to build financial contracts around the resources AI systems consume. In a post on X, Hayes called his essay “The Trifecta” and <a href="https://x.com/CryptoHayes/status/2114857087004201325?s=20" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">described</a> it as a blueprint for entrepreneurs seeking to build derivatives for the AI agent economy. His central idea is that a liquid spot market for computing power could <a href="https://cryptohayes.substack.com/p/the-trifecta" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">provide</a> the pricing benchmark needed for futures and perpetual swaps. The proposed Flop Reference Compute Rate (FRCR) would be calculated hourly using a volume-weighted FLOP price per GigaFLOP of computing capacity. Quarterly futures would settle on the last Friday of March, June, September, and December, with contracts using US dollars for margin and profits. Hayes explained that the dollar-based structure would require a quanto derivative, a contract whose payout uses a different currency from its underlying asset. Because the compute market would be priced in FLOP while traders could prefer dollar-denominated returns, pricing the contract would require an adjustment for the relationship between the FRCR and the FLOP-to-dollar exchange rate. The proposed perpetual swap would use an eight-hour time-weighted average of the difference between its trading price and the FRCR to calculate funding payments. As with crypto perpetuals, traders on the expensive side of the contract would pay those on the cheaper side, depending on the premium. Market makers could recreate futures exposure by buying or supplying Flop Compute Units (FCUs), which represent reserved inference capacity for a specified AI model and delivery time. Hayes’s design also requires suppliers to post FLOP bonds, which they risk losing if they fail to deliver the promised computing work. The derivatives proposal depends on Flop Network first establishing a functioning spot market. Hayes argues that existing indexes tracking chip rental prices and individual AI token prices provide incomplete information because both are derivatives of the underlying cost of computation. Under his design, network blocks would record inference tasks, the computing work completed, and the fees paid to miners. Those receipts would help calculate the exchange rate between FLOP and computing capacity, giving buyers and suppliers a common reference. Hayes <a href="https://cryptopotato.com/arthur-hayes-called-ai-a-bubble-now-hes-launching-an-ai-project/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">introduced</a> Flop Labs in August 2026, describing its proposed native token FLOP as “food for your AI agent.” In an August 27 explanation, the project <a href="ht
Zcash Co-founder Sean Bowe Proposes Ending ZCG Funding Stream, Citing $125M Treasury
Zcash (ZEC) co-founder Sean Bowe proposed on Monday to end the 8% block reward share paid to Zcash Community Grants (ZCG), saying the program already holds over $125 million. Bowe filed the change as a draft Zcash Improvement Proposal (ZIP) that would send that reward share to the Network Sustainability Mechanism (NSM) until the stream’s scheduled end. That mechanism withholds the coins from issuance and starts paying them back out as block rewards in February 2031. Under the draft, ZCG would keep its existing treasury and could still approve grants from it. “The program was never designed to handle this amount of funding,” Bowe wrote on X. It’s time to turn off the ZCG funding stream. ZCG has over $125M in funding, and will receive millions more before the spigot is turned off. The program was never designed to handle this amount of funding. — Sean Bowe (@ebfull) <a href="https://x.com/ebfull/status/2114911107718742451?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">October 27, 2026</a> Bowe’s figure comes from a dashboard linked on ZCG’s website. It listed 91,453 ZEC and $8.8 million in cash at an October 21 block. Approved grants still unpaid came to $2.4 million. Bowe valued the coins at $1,300 each to reach $125.3 million. The same dashboard counts another 110,049 ZEC due to ZCG before the stream ends on November 24, 2028. According to the draft ZIP, at the dashboard’s price of $1,241.61, those coins are worth $136.6 million, more than the program holds now; and, according to a Financial Privacy Foundation report, ZCG spent $1.53 million in the first quarter of 2026 <span>against that intake</span>. The stream adds 144 ZEC a day, which Bowe put at $68.3 million a year at the same coin price. Bowe’s draft landed alongside other proposals on the Zcash forum. For instance, Maxime Desalle’s proposal would also send ZCG’s remaining treasury to the NSM. Desalle cited a February coinholder vote in which 98.6% opposed Zcash Shielded Assets. ZCG approved another $455,000 for Shielded Assets work in June, he said. Turnout was 7.25% of circulating ZEC, per the Zcash Foundation. In June, ZCG approved $455,000 for a QEDIT test network covering Shielded Assets and other deferred features, its minutes show. Josh Swihart, founder and CEO of Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), said: “It’d be a mistake to kill only one part of the dev fund.” He added the 12% Coinholder-Controlled Fund, which accrues about 216 ZEC a day, should end too. Swihart’s company is the one former Electric Coin Company staff <a href="https://cryptopotato.com/zcash-governance-crisis-forces-full-exit-of-electric-coin-company-staff/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">formed</a> after a governance dispute. Responding to Swihart’s plan, Bowe wrote that he would also personally back a separate proposal to strip ZCG’s existing treasury. Ian Miers, one of Zcash’s founding scientists, objected to the NSM as the destination, stating that the reserve ultimately pays miners and could
Zcash co-founder calls to stop funding ‘over $125M’ grants program
Sean Bowe says ZCG has enough money to keep funding projects and wants its share of new ZEC redirected to a reserve for the network. Zcash co-founder Sean Bowe proposed ending the automatic funding stream to Zcash Community Grants (ZCG), saying its treasury was large enough to continue funding projects without further automatic payments. “ZCG has over $125M in funding, and will receive millions more before the spigot is turned off,” Bowe <a href="https://x.com/ebfull/status/2114911107718742451" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">>said</a> Tuesday on X. “The program was never designed to handle this amount of funding.” Bowe shared a draft GitHub <a href="https://github.com/zcash/zips/blob/end-zcg-stream/zips/draft-bowe-end-zcg-stream.md" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">>proposal</a> that would redirect ZCG’s 8% share of the Zcash (ZEC) block subsidy to the network’s sustainability reserve, while leaving its existing funds untouched. The allocation would flow to the Network Sustainability Mechanism until the current funding period ends in 2028. The mechanism is designed to hold ZEC out of circulation and gradually reissue it through future block rewards. In September, Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at crypto venture capital firm Dragonfly, proposed ending the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/dragonflys-qureshi-end-zcash-dev-fund-2028" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Zcash developer fund</a> when its current funding period expires, saying that it risks being “politicized” as it approaches $100 million in value. ZCG’s dashboard <a href="https://zcashcommunitygrants.org/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">>listed</a> 91,453 ZEC and $8.8 million in cash as of Wednesday, with $2.4 million in outstanding grant commitments. The ZEC holdings alone were worth about $111 million at press time. The network’s separate development lockbox <a href="https://zecstats.org/shielded" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">>held</a> 72,351 ZEC, worth roughly $89 million, according to ZecStats. <em><strong>Related: </strong></em><a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/prediction-markets-17b-robinhood-exceed-crypto-revenue-2028-bernstein" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><em><strong>HOOD’s prediction markets to add $1.7B to revenue, exceed crypto by 2028: Bernstein</strong></em></a>
FTX's $1.3 billion Anthropic sale draws renewed attention as IPO looms
CoinWorld data: FTX's $1.3 billion Anthropic sale is drawing renewed attention as its IPO application approaches. Anthropic announced on October 26 that it has submitted an S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, preparing to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ANT. Although the number of shares to be offered and the price range have not yet been determined, The Wall Street Journal reported that the IPO valuation could be between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion. Based on FTX's previous 7.84% stake, at the lowest valuation, its holding would be worth approximately $117.6 billion. FTX's bankruptcy plan is expected to provide about 119% of claims to 98% of creditors, with a second creditor distribution scheduled for May 30, 2025, amounting to more than $5 billion.
During Brazil's general election period, companies turned to stablecoins to hedge against exchange rate risk.
CoinWorld data: According to Coindesk, amid concerns over the depreciation of the Brazilian real during the country's election period, local businesses turned to stablecoins and other crypto assets to hedge against currency risk while traditional financial markets were closed. On the election voting day, USDT trading volume on Brazilian crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin surged by nearly 800%, while Bitcoin trading volume rose by 865%, with corporate accounts contributing 78% of the day's total trading volume. Meanwhile, trading volume of the USDT/BRL pair on Binance tripled, while trading volume of the global BTC/USDT pair declined.
Oracle plans to expand its multicloud AI database service to the U.S. government.
CoinWorld news: Oracle (ORCL.N) plans to expand its multicloud AI database services to U.S. government and public sector workloads.
Oracle plans to expand its multicloud AI database services to the U.S. government.
CoinWorld news: Oracle has announced plans to expand its multicloud AI database services to the U.S. government, with the related token being $ORCL.
A whale deposited 36.697 billion PEPE into Coinbase, worth approximately $1.64 million.
According to CoinWorld news, OnchainLens reports that a whale has just deposited 36.697 billion PEPE tokens into Coinbase, worth approximately $1.64 million at current prices, and is expected to potentially sell.
Bitcoin analyst: Bitcoin has broken above the 50-week moving average by 5%
According to a report by Bitcoin Magazine, Bitcoin is currently more than 5% above its 50-week moving average and has remained above that level for six consecutive weeks. bmtv analyst Sean Hagan said, "We believe this indicates that we are in the early stages of a bull market."
Marathon Digital transferred 4,860 BTC, worth approximately $400 million, out of its wallets in October.
According to CoinWorld news, Marathon Digital ($MARA) transferred out approximately 4,860 BTC, worth about $400 million, from its tracked wallets in October. Although its third-quarter earnings report is expected to be released on November 3, on-chain data has already provided early insight into its fourth-quarter activity.