TechFlow reports that on January 31, HodlAI proposed a novel AI service usage model: instead of prepaying or paying per API call, users unlock daily AI API call quotas based on their token holdings. Tokens remain in users’ personal wallets, and quotas refresh daily—covering over 200 models, including GPT-5, Claude 4.5, and Gemini 3.
Funding for this model comes from on-chain transaction taxes. HodlAI imposes a 3% tax on every transaction and allocates all collected funds to an API treasury, distributing usage quotas proportionally according to users’ token holdings. The more active the trading volume, the larger the treasury—and consequently, the greater the total allocable quotas.
To prevent short-term arbitrage, HodlAI implements a time-based quota release mechanism: the longer users hold tokens, the higher their available quotas; addresses with prior sell records face capped quota limits. Holding duration is verified via immutable on-chain data.
For transparency, HodlAI publishes all API treasury funding records and provides third-party billing verification. The team pledges zero platform fees. Within two days of launch, cumulative transaction taxes exceeded $65,000, while total API usage costs remained under $1,000.
