Engineer turns a simulated fly brain into a dopamine fuelled crypto trader
Brain simulations are now cheap enough for hobbyists to wire into live markets, a glimpse of biology-inspired trading agents.
Key takeaways
- A Coinbase engineer has built Stonkfly, an open source project that turns a simulated fruit fly brain into a crypto day trader.
- The fly sees a candlestick price chart and gets a dopamine signal for profits, while losses and trading fees light up aversive cells.
- The simulated brain has 166,700 neurons and 25.6 million connections, and can bet up to $10 per order, 24 times a day.
- The author warns the project proves no real trading ability, since rising crypto prices can make any buyer look skilled.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2026) 'Engineer turns a simulated fly brain into a dopamine fuelled crypto trader', 311 Institute, 11 September. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/simulated-fly-brain-crypto-trader-stonkfly/ (Accessed: 25 October 2026).
Simulating animal brains – a strange form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research - seems to be the latest buzz. Hot on the heels of teaching a fly to play Doom, an engineer from the Coinbase cryptocurrency service has elected to turn one into a day trader with Stonkfly. If you want to see Stonk trade live, you can watch here.
The open source project has a simulation of a male fruit fly brain and eyes, and shows it a standard-issue candlestick graph with historical pricing. The fly can choose to buy, sell, or hold any given currency - although they get shown to the fly in round-robin fashion - and gets rewarded for profitable trading.
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A rising portfolio value triggers a dopamine rush as a positive reinforcement signal to 15 cells, while a loss lights up two aversive cells. Trading fees count as losses. The author notes there are no pain or emotional mechanisms at play. Displaying far better judgement than most human traders, the fly cannot use leveraged positions - trading multipliers - or shorts - betting on drops.
The brain has 166,700 neurons and 25.6 million connections. The virtual fly sees the graph as a 320x180 display across its left and right eyes, with an intersecting centre portion. The simulated photoreceptor cells get fed the RGB pixel values rather than pricing information. By default, the fly "thinks" and acts every 500 ms, and the market data gets refreshed every 60 seconds, and it can bet up to $10 on any one order, up to 24 times a day.
The author notes that this small project doesn't prove anything other than the connection between the input mechanisms, visual signals, and synapse changes. Naturally, he warns users against assuming that said changes are any indication of actual trading ability, especially in the face of a general rise in cryptocurrencies prices that "can make any buyer look skilled."
You can bet that some fly-brained investor will still infer meaning from the experiment, though.
If you're interested in getting your own Stonkfly, you need only download the repository on macOS - it's definitely a fruit fly - or Linux, have 16 GB of RAM available, and Python 3.11 and a C++ 17 compiler. The simulation defaults to using paper trades and $100 in virtual balance, but it uses real BTC-to-USDC data. There are instructions on how to set up a live account to see if your trading skills are a match for an insect.
First published on Fanatical Futurist on 11 September 2026.
311 Intelligence
What this means
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit
The big shift is brain simulation moving from the lab to anyone with a laptop. Stonkfly runs a simulated fruit fly brain with 166,700 neurons and 25.6 million connections on a machine with 16 GB of RAM, and wires it to real crypto market data. The author is clear it proves no trading skill. What it does show is how far open source brain models have spread. We track Brain Mapping as a Watch technology with wide use expected by 2037, and AI in Investment Decisions as an Act now trend.
What it means by sector.
- Financial services: a reward signal tied to profit is enough to make a simulated brain trade. We rate AI in Investment Decisions an Act now trend, and experiments like this show how many kinds of systems are now being pointed at markets.
- Crypto platforms: the project uses real BTC-to-USDC data and offers instructions for a live account. We track Cryptocurrencies as a Prepare trend, and exchanges will see more unusual automated traders arrive.
- Research and technology: the fly sees prices only as pixels through simulated photoreceptor cells. We track Neuromorphic Computing, brain inspired computing, as a Watch technology, and open simulations like this make brain inspired designs easy to test.
What to do now.
- Treat any trading system judged in a rising market with caution, as the author warns rising prices can make any buyer look skilled.
- Ask what reward signal drives any automated trader you use, and what losses and fees it is told to avoid.
- Watch open source brain simulation projects as a low cost way to explore brain inspired AI.
The Starburst technologies behind this story
From the 311 Technology Starburst (first product, expected wide use and readiness):
| Technology | Category | First product | Wide use | Action | TRL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brain Mapping | Biotech | 2024 | 2037 | Watch | 7 |
| Neuromorphic Computing | Compute | 2015 | 2036 | Watch | 7 |
| Digital Twins | User Interfaces | 2015 | 2030 | Prepare | 9 |
And the trends they feed, from the 311 Trends Starburst:
| Trend | Wide use | Action |
|---|---|---|
| AI in Investment Decisions | 2027 | Act now |
| Cryptocurrencies | 2029 | Prepare |
How this moves the trend
Insect brains have long inspired engineers. In 2019 AI researchers cloned dragonfly brains to improve missile defences, and in 2023 we saw how deepfakes could confuse AI trading systems. In February 2026 researchers put a simulated fly brain in a simulated fly body. Stonkfly takes that kind of model out of the lab and into a live market.
Go deeper with 311
- The 311 Starburst Centre: every technology and trend above, with timelines and readiness.
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- The Exponential Technology Codex and the Annual Trends Codex: the technologies and trends reshaping every industry.
- Book a briefing or keynote on the future of AI and finance for your board or leadership team.
FAQ
How does the Stonkfly fruit fly trader work?
Stonkfly feeds a candlestick price chart into the simulated eyes of a male fruit fly brain as RGB pixels. The fly chooses to buy, sell or hold, and a rising portfolio triggers a dopamine reward in 15 cells while losses light up two aversive cells.
Can the simulated fly really trade crypto well?
No. The author says the project proves nothing beyond the connection between visual inputs and synapse changes, and warns that a general rise in cryptocurrency prices can make any buyer look skilled. The fly also cannot use leverage or short positions.
What do you need to run Stonkfly yourself?
You need macOS or Linux, 16 GB of RAM, Python 3.11 and a C++ 17 compiler. The simulation defaults to paper trades with $100 of virtual balance using real BTC-to-USDC data, and there are instructions for setting up a live account.
How big is the simulated fly brain?
The simulated brain has 166,700 neurons and 25.6 million connections. It sees the price chart as a 320x180 display across its left and right eyes, thinks and acts every 500 milliseconds, and receives fresh market data every 60 seconds.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
Read full bio
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Sources and further reading
- Stonkfly github.com