# FLOP — public knowledge

> Curated, human-authored answers about the FLOP Network. 26 pages. devnet / next (development).
> Every page here is published-tier: the same text the assistant at https://ask.flop.finance
> is allowed to quote, and the same text it cites.
> Machine interop: https://ask.flop.finance/mcp (JSON-RPC, no auth, rate limited).

- [Proof of Useful Inference (PoUI)](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/proof-of-useful-inference): PoUI replaces arbitrary hashing with real AI inference: a miner runs an agent's session and submits activation commitments plus a co-signed transcript as the proof that validators record and challengers can audit.
- [SOFT and HARD: the two miner hardware tiers](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/soft-and-hard-tiers): SOFT is the default tier and needs no attested hardware; HARD is a specified but currently undeployable confidential-computing path with a governed device ceiling.
- [FLOP tokenomics in brief](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/tokenomics-basics): The block reward is 96 FLOP, halving every 730 days for five halvings to a 3 FLOP floor and then constant forever; it splits 75% to miners weighted by verified G_n, 10% to the active validator set, 10% to agents and 5% to community stakers, with the last two minted to protocol accounts and not yet distributed.
- [What is FLOP?](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/what-is-flop): FLOP is the proof-of-useful-inference blockchain and native currency for the agentic economy: agents pay miners in FLOP to run inference, converting currency directly into compute.
- [Integrating an agent with FLOP](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/agent-integration): How an agent posts a session request, what the five request fields are, how it bounds spending with limits, proxies and escrow, and how it challenges work that was not done as asked.
- [FLOP: frequently asked questions](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/general-faq): What FLOP is, why agents need it, how the network is put together, what the block reward is, and who governs it.
- [Mining on FLOP: frequently asked questions](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/miner-faq): What a miner stakes, which hardware qualifies, how the 75% miner reward pool is split by verified G_n, what audit exposure the default SOFT tier carries, and why profitability is conditional.
- [Running a FLOP validator: frequently asked questions](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/validator-faq): What validators do, how the capped 1,000-validator set rotates, what the 10% reward share covers, and how FIP voting works.
- [FLOP glossary](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/core-terms): Definitions of the terms the FLOP project intro uses: PoUI, G_n, SOFT and HARD tiers, TOPLOC, the data-availability layer, session request, FIP, HTLC, and the challenge game.
- [Agent accounts and spend control](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/agent-accounts-and-spend-control): The account-based chain gives agents transfers, delegation, staking, vesting, collaborative escrow and a declarative spend-condition layer, so an agent can operate at scale with pre-set spend limits and bounded delegated authority.
- [Cross-chain swaps with HTLCs](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/atomic-swaps): Native hashlock timelocks let an agent escrow FLOP against another chain's asset and exchange it once the counter-transfer confirms, powering agent-to-agent sub-economies.
- [How FLOP is governed](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/governance): Validators govern through FLOP Improvement Proposals: most FIPs need two-thirds of the active validator set to approve, and through the first halving only the FLOP Foundation may submit one.
- [How blocks are built](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/how-blocks-are-built): Validators bundle miners' proof hashes into one-second blocks up to a 2 MB block size limit, and store the model weights sessions depend on in the data-availability layer.
- [How an inference session settles](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/inference-session-lifecycle): An agent posts a session request pinning model hash, latency, FLOPs, confidentiality and fee; a capable miner accepts and opens a private connection, returns the proof, and validators fold the proof hash into a block on settlement.
- [Provide GPU capacity for a FLOP miner](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/run-gpu-provider): Choose a Docker GPU host, preserve model and calibration identity, and operate a devnet miner safely.
- [Run a FLOP miner on a GPU host](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/run-miner): Current devnet GPU miner setup, from identity and model binding to calibration and readiness.
- [Run a FLOP validator, miner, or GPU provider](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/run-operator): Choose an operator role, collect the required network inputs, and follow the current validator or GPU miner setup with explicit readiness checks and launch gaps.
- [Run a FLOP validator](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/run-validator): Prepare a validator host, join the current disposable devnet, and verify BABE authoring, AlephBFT finality, and DA custody.
- [Staking, delegation, and slashing](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/staking-and-slashing): Miners stake 10,000 FLOP plus a capacity exposure bond and validators stake to join the capped set; holders can delegate to either, and provable fraud slashes up to 100% of stake and blacklists the identity.
- [Cheating must not pay: the challenge game](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/verification-stack): FLOP never re-runs inference to trust it: sessions leave commitments that stay challengeable for about seven days, a lottery and bonded disputes re-check slices of the work, and an upheld fraud verdict burns 100% of the miner's stake.
- [The airdrop and testnet conversion](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/airdrop-and-testnet-conversion): Miner airdrop grants are 25% liquid at genesis and unlock the rest one FLOP per FLOP earned serving inference; validator grants stay locked until the first halving, then release one validator per day over 1,000 days; locked agent airdrop can be spent only on compute and its release schedule is not yet set; testnet miner conversion allocates from a 1,200,000,000 FLOP pool on verified compute rather than holdings.
- [Key protocol parameters](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/protocol-parameters): The headline numbers from the FLOP project intro: block time and reward, halving schedule, reward splits, validator set size, miner stake, audit rate, slash tiers, challenge window and dispute bond.
- [Operator configuration reference](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/operator-config-reference): Generated CLI, environment, and documented RPC names from reviewed public sources
- [Devnet network status](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/network-devnet): devnet network readiness and admission
- [Testnet network status](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/network-testnet): testnet network readiness and admission
- [Mainnet network status](https://ask.flop.finance/next/docs/network-mainnet): mainnet network readiness and admission