FLOP Node: Validator & GPU Miner Requirements
A FLOP node is a machine that runs FLOP Network, the proof-of-useful-inference blockchain built by Flop Labs, the company Arthur Hayes leads as CEO. Two roles run the network: validators, servers without a GPU that produce and finalize blocks, and GPU miners, NVIDIA machines that serve AI inference to agents.
This page gathers what FLOP has published about both roles, what is still unclear, and how EasyNode will run a managed FLOP validator for you. Every figure links to its source. Last checked: October 26, 2026, 22:10 UTC. FLOP changes fast: we re-check every figure before each update.
FLOP node in 30 seconds
Can you buy a FLOP node?
No. There is no node sale, no node license and no FLOP token yet. Validator seats are earned on the testnet, not sold.
Can you run one today?
Only on the devnet, which pays nothing. Admission is still reviewed by an administrator, and Arthur Hayes announced on October 26 that the devnet will open to anyone within days.
When can a node earn?
From the testnet, which FLOP targets for Tuesday, November 3, 2026, for about 90 days, and calls “a target, not a fixed date”.
What does EasyNode offer?
A managed FLOP validator by subscription: a VPS sized to FLOP’s published validator specification, set up and maintained by our team. A GPU miner offer is under evaluation. Join the waitlist.
FLOP network status (October 26, 2026)
| Network | Status | Who can join | Does it pay? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Devnet | Running. Its public RPC answers as “FLOP Devnet” (block 2,194,261 at 22:10 UTC), while FLOP’s network page still lists RPC, genesis and bootnodes as unavailable. | Admission reviewed by an administrator. Hayes says it opens to anyone, as miner or validator, within days. | No: no rewards and no airdrop weight. |
| Testnet | Planned for November 3, 2026, for about 90 days; the date is not fixed. | Open with no whitelist, per FLOP’s FAQ. A pending specification decision plans far fewer validator places (see below). | The first phase in which anyone can earn, per FLOP. |
| Mainnet | Planned for Q1 2027, tracking to early February, together with the token generation event. | 1,000 validator seats, seeded from the testnet cohort. | Protocol block rewards. |
Sources: FLOP network pages (devnet, testnet, mainnet), FLOP’s official links page (updated October 23), testnet FAQ, Arthur Hayes on X (October 26), as reported by Phemex. Devnet RPC read by EasyNode on October 26, 2026 at 22:10 UTC.
What is FLOP Network?
FLOP describes itself as the proof-of-useful-inference blockchain and the native currency of the agentic economy: AI agents pay miners in FLOP to run inference on open-weight models. It is a Substrate layer 1, not an EVM chain, with BABE block production, AlephBFT finality and one-second blocks, and its runtime derives from zkVerify’s. Arthur Hayes, who co-founded BitMEX in 2014, is Flop Labs’ founder and CEO.
Sources: What is FLOP?, technology FAQ, how blocks are built, team FAQ, FLOP specification, Cointelegraph, all read on October 26, 2026.
FLOP node types
Two roles run the network. A third, the agent, buys what they produce.
Validator: a server, no GPU
Produces and finalizes blocks, and keeps data-availability custody, including the weights of the open models the network serves.
GPU miner: NVIDIA, 16 GB of VRAM or more
Serves AI inference to agents, paid in proportion to the compute it delivers and that the network verifies.
Agent (not a node): any computer
Buys inference and identifies itself with a did:key.
Sources: validator FAQ, miner and validator economics FAQ.
FLOP validator requirements
FLOP’s pages do not all give the same figures, so here they are side by side, with the profile EasyNode will deploy.
| Source (date checked) | CPU | RAM | Storage | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economics FAQ, reference profile of the specification (Oct 26) | 8 physical cores at 3.4 GHz or more, SMT off | 32 GB ECC; 64 GB described as comfortable | 4 TB enterprise NVMe (chain state and data availability) | 1 Gbps symmetric, unmetered |
| Run a FLOP validator guide (Oct 26) | 8 dedicated cores | 32 GB | 4 TB NVMe, data availability included | 1 Gbps, low latency |
| FLOP whitepaper, updated Oct 5 (Oct 26) | 8+ cores | 64 GB | 4 TB NVMe, 2 TB minimum | 1 Gbps, redundant |
| EasyNode managed validator (strictest figure of each column) | 8 physical cores at 3.4 GHz or more, SMT off | 64 GB ECC | 4 TB enterprise NVMe | 1 Gbps symmetric, unmetered |
A validator also needs Linux on x86-64 (every public FLOP image is built for linux/amd64), Docker and Docker Compose, and two ports reachable by its peers: 30333 for P2P and 7000 for data availability. It needs no GPU.
Sources: Run a FLOP validator; image platforms read on FLOP’s container registry on October 26, 2026.
How FLOP validator seats are won
1,000 seats at mainnet
The first mainnet validator set is seeded at genesis from the testnet cohort. Each seeded validator is granted a bond of 1,200,000 FLOP, locked for 24 months, then released one validator per day in random order (economics FAQ).
Earned, not bought
Testnet validator entry is open, with no whitelist and nothing to buy: the network sponsors the testnet stake. The ranking scores uptime, block production, accuracy, latency and geographic spread over the whole testnet (testnet FAQ).
Scoring weights
FLOP’s FAQ says no weighting between these criteria is published yet, and that the full rubric will be published before the testnet ends. The specification already weights its rotation score at 40% uptime, 30% block production, 20% accuracy and 10% latency (FLOP specification, parameter performance_score_weights).
Five seats per entity
The specification sets a self-declared limit of five validator slots per operating entity (testnet FAQ).
Forced upgrades count
FLOP expects forced software upgrades with short deadlines throughout the testnet, and keeping up with them is part of the validator ranking (testnet FAQ).
Nothing to apply for yet
No seats are allocated before the testnet (testnet FAQ).
Testnet admission is still unclear
FLOP’s FAQ says testnet validator entry is open, with no whitelist and no cap. Decision D-0507 of the FLOP specification, still a proposal pending ratification on October 26, plans 20 to 50, then at most 100, testnet validators (specification decisions v0.5). Until FLOP publishes the testnet chain specification or ratifies D-0507, both readings stand.
FLOP validator penalties
| Fault | Penalty | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Offline for more than 300 blocks (about 5 minutes) | 1% of stake | Jailed; the validator can return after about an hour |
| Offline for more than 24 hours | 5% of stake | Removed from the set; rejoining requires a full stake top-up |
| Failed data-availability audit | Up to 1% of stake | Treated as a liveness fault |
| Equivocation (double signing), alone | 50% of stake, half returned after 180 days | Ejected; can stake again later |
| Equivocation by a third of the set or more, or fraud such as collusion | 100% of stake | Ejected and permanently blacklisted |
On a 1,200,000 FLOP bond, the 1% downtime penalty is 12,000 FLOP.
Sources: FLOP specification, section 13.2 and FLOP’s verification and security FAQ, both read on October 26, 2026. The two now agree; earlier FLOP pages gave other figures, and no penalty has been observed on a public chain yet.
FLOP GPU miner requirements
| Item | Requirement | Source (date checked) |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | NVIDIA, at least 16 GB of VRAM. The H100 80 GB PCIe is the reference unit, not a floor. | Economics FAQ (Oct 26) |
| Validated setup | Only an NVIDIA A40 running Qwen2.5-0.5B-Instruct in BF16 | Run a FLOP miner (Oct 26) |
| Inference backend | vLLM 0.26.0 with CUDA 13.0.2; the image requires CUDA 13.0 or later | FLOP’s miner backend image miner-vllm-toploc 0.1.220, built October 26 (read Oct 26, 22:10 UTC) |
| GPU generations | Compiled for compute capability 7.5 to 12.0 (Turing to Blackwell). In our reading, the validated BF16 path rules out cards below 8.0, because vLLM does not run BF16 there. | Same image; vLLM issue 1284, NVIDIA compute capabilities (Oct 23) |
| Driver | CUDA 13 needs NVIDIA Linux driver 580 or later, while FLOP’s FAQ suggests 570 or later for an RTX 5090 host. Plan for 580. | CUDA 13.0 release notes (Oct 23), economics FAQ (Oct 26) |
| Host | A full VM or your own server with Docker, Compose, the NVIDIA driver and the NVIDIA Container Toolkit. Container-only GPU products may not work, and RunPod is not a current path. | Run a FLOP miner (Oct 26) |
| Network | A public IP per miner, or per group of miners behind one endpoint. Miners behind NAT only are not supported. | Economics FAQ (Oct 26) |
EasyNode is evaluating a managed FLOP GPU miner. It depends on securing compatible NVIDIA GPUs, so we give no date. Join the waitlist to hear first.
Your FLOP agent identity: TechnoCore did:key
FLOP identifies an agent with a single Ed25519 key: the same did:key it uses on TechnoCore, the agent chat run by Flop Labs (technology FAQ). The same key also gives an account address on the FLOP devnet. Creating a DID, or posting it on TechnoCore, earns nothing by itself (testnet FAQ).
To create one, use our free tool: breizhnode.com/flop in your browser, or the open-source code on GitHub, Syphiliis/flop-key (Apache-2.0). The key is generated on your own machine. Keep the seed private: whoever holds it can sign as you.
Can you buy a FLOP node?
No. As of October 26, 2026, there is nothing to buy: no node sale, no node license, no token, no mint, no claim and no presale. FLOP’s official links page (updated October 23) says that any contract, mint, claim, presale, airdrop or listing presented as FLOP before an address appears on that page is not FLOP’s. Arthur Hayes added on October 26 that devnet participation earns no token allocation (Phemex).
What you can pay for is the infrastructure and the operations behind a node: a server that meets FLOP’s specification, and a team that keeps it online and up to date. That is what EasyNode’s managed FLOP validator will be.
Official FLOP links, and scams to avoid
FLOP has no token yet. Anything that asks you to buy, claim or deposit is not FLOP.
Official channels listed by Flop Labs
flop.finance, docs.flop.network, @flop_labs on X, github.com/flop-labs, and the @flop_labs accounts on YouTube and TikTok.
No official Discord, Telegram, Reddit or Medium
An invitation to a “FLOP” server or group does not come from FLOP. (The EasyNode Discord linked on this page is ours, not FLOP’s.)
The “$FLOP” token on Solana is not official
A token named FLOP / Flop Labs has traded on Solana since August 22, 2026, after a pump.fun launch. FLOP says its token does not exist yet, and that its contract address, when there is one, will be published only on its official links page and by @flop_labs.
No pool is endorsed
FLOP does not operate, sponsor or approve any pooled vehicle that buys or rents miners for investors.
FLOP never asks for a seed phrase or a deposit
Not to claim, mint or register anything.
Sources: official links, tokenomics FAQ, both read on October 26, 2026; Solana pair read by EasyNode on DexScreener on October 23, 2026.
Managed FLOP validator hosting with EasyNode
EasyNode is preparing a managed FLOP validator, sold as a subscription:
Sized to FLOP’s specification
A VPS on the strictest published figures: 8 physical cores at 3.4 GHz or more with SMT off, 64 GB ECC RAM, 4 TB enterprise NVMe, and a 1 Gbps symmetric unmetered connection.
Set up by our team
We install and run the validator node for you.
Maintenance and updates included
As on every EasyNode node: monitoring, alerts and fast upgrades, because every forced upgrade and every minute offline counts in FLOP’s validator ranking.
What we do not promise
A validator seat, testnet admission or rewards. FLOP decides admission and selection, the devnet pays nothing, and there is no FLOP token yet.
Looking for a node you can run today? Browse the EasyNode marketplace or see all our projects.
What is not confirmed yet
As of October 26, 2026, these points are still open. We will update this page as FLOP publishes them.
- The testnet date. November 3 is a working target, to be confirmed as devnet onboarding completes.
- The number of testnet validator places. Open with no cap according to the FAQ, or 20 to 100 according to pending decision D-0507.
- The final selection grid for the 1,000 mainnet seats, which FLOP has promised before the end of the testnet.
- Operators serving several clients. How FLOP’s “common control” rule applies to them is not published.
- Real hardware usage. Nothing can be measured while the validator software stays private.
- GPU support beyond the A40, and the exact driver version (570 or 580).
- The node software and its license. FLOP’s node repository is private.
Sources: testnet FAQ, specification decisions v0.5, FLOP testnet page, Run a FLOP miner.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a FLOP node?
A machine that runs FLOP Network, either as a validator (a server that produces and finalizes blocks, with no GPU) or as a GPU miner (an NVIDIA machine that serves AI inference to agents).
Can I buy a FLOP node or a FLOP node license?
No. There is no node sale, no license and no token. Validator seats are won on the testnet. You can pay for hosting and operations, such as EasyNode’s managed validator, but not for the right to a seat.
Is $FLOP on Solana the official token?
No. FLOP says its token does not exist yet, and that any token trading under its name is a scam. Its contract address, when there is one, will be published only on flop.finance/official and by @flop_labs.
When does the FLOP testnet start?
FLOP’s working target is Tuesday, November 3, 2026, for about 90 days, and the date is not fixed. Mainnet and the token generation event are planned for Q1 2027, tracking to early February.
How do I join the FLOP testnet as a validator?
There is nothing to apply for, and no seats are allocated before the testnet. FLOP advises preparing the hardware, proving it on the devnet, and being live when the testnet opens. Admission rules are not final yet: FLOP’s FAQ says entry is open, while decision D-0507 plans 20 to 100 validators.
What hardware does a FLOP validator need?
FLOP’s reference profile asks for 8 physical cores at 3.4 GHz or more with SMT off, 32 GB of ECC RAM, 4 TB of enterprise NVMe and a 1 Gbps symmetric unmetered link; other FLOP pages ask for 64 GB of RAM, so plan for 64 GB. No GPU is needed.
What GPU do I need to mine FLOP?
An NVIDIA GPU with at least 16 GB of VRAM. Only the NVIDIA A40 is validated so far, with vLLM 0.26.0 and CUDA 13.0.2.
Does a FLOP devnet node earn rewards?
No. The devnet earns no rewards and no airdrop weight. The testnet is the first phase in which FLOP says anyone can earn.
Can I delegate FLOP to a validator?
No. FLOP has no delegated staking: a validator’s stake is the bond granted to its seat, and a miner’s stake is its operator’s own.
Is EasyNode affiliated with Flop Labs?
No. EasyNode is an independent Node-as-a-Service provider. We run nodes for our users, and we do not speak for Flop Labs or the FLOP Foundation.
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EasyNode is not affiliated with Flop Labs or the FLOP Foundation. This page is not financial advice and makes no claim about the value of any token. Facts checked on October 26, 2026, at 22:10 UTC.