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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>
FCC approves Amazon's acquisition of Globalstar
CoinWorld news: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved Amazon's (AMZN.O) acquisition of Globalstar. The move will further advance Amazon's expansion in the satellite communications sector.
Brazilian companies rush into stablecoins amid election turmoil, with USDT trading volume surging 800%
Bjie.com data: Brazilian companies, hit by a 19% stock market plunge caused by election turmoil, are rushing into stablecoins. On election day, USDT trading volume on Mercado Bitcoin surged nearly 800% compared with the previous Sunday. Corporate clients account for 78% of the exchange's total trading volume, seeking to protect their funds. Following Lula's unexpected victory, total USDT and USDC trading volume across tracked exchanges reached $350 million on Monday, up 65% from the previous week.
Reuters: Argentum AI is in talks to raise $5 billion in AI chip financing.
According to a Reuters report, Neocloud company Argentum AI is in negotiations for $5 billion in AI chip financing.
US prosecutors charge six individuals in an NFT wallet fraud scheme involving more than $510,000.
CoinWorld news: U.S. prosecutors have charged six individuals suspected of involvement in a Madagascar NFT wallet scam. According to an FBI affidavit, the case involves 74 victim wallets, with losses amounting to at least $516,700; the group transferred assets by inducing victims to grant unlimited USDT spending permissions.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan亲自介入拯救630亿美元Anthropic芯片交易
BiJie Network News: Broadcom CEO Hock Tan personally intervened to save the $63 billion Anthropic chip deal. Some banks had considered withdrawing from the deal because they believed the compensation they received was insufficient to justify the risk. Tan held last-minute negotiations with bank executives over the weekend, and Broadcom agreed to raise the interest rate and provide banks with more safeguards in case Anthropic is unable to pay.
Russia's western ports are expected to see crude oil exports decline by 100,000 to 200,000 barrels per day in November.
According to Reuters, Russia's crude oil exports from Baltic and Black Sea ports are expected to decrease by 100,000 to 200,000 barrels per day month-on-month in November, mainly because refineries have completed maintenance, increased processing volumes, and boosted diesel production to meet the requirements of the Russia-U.S. diesel supply agreement. Russia and the United States reached a diesel supply agreement on October 9 to alleviate the global diesel shortage and price increases caused by supply disruptions in the Middle East. Since then, Russia has partially restored its diesel export quota, and the United States has also eased sanctions on Russian fuel exports. Meanwhile, the risk of Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities remains, loading delays at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk have lasted nearly three weeks, and the decline in Russian crude oil production has also limited further increases in refinery processing volumes, so the November export plan may still be adjusted.
US high-yield bond option-adjusted spread stands at 330 basis points.
Coin World US stock market data: The latest daily reading of the US high-yield bond option-adjusted spread is 330 basis points. Compared with the same-caliber snapshot 24 hours earlier, it is down 8 basis points; compared with the same-caliber snapshot 7 days earlier, it is up 1 basis point.