Flare Network (FLR): A Layer -1 for Decentralized Data

Centralized data is increasingly vulnerable to security breaches and confidentiality issues. With the ever-growing amount of data being collected, stored and shared in a centralized manner, organizations risk losing control over their information.Flare is a revolutionary blockchain platform that aims to solve the issue of centralized data by connecting data across chains. Flare powers connectivity within the decentralized economy by providing developers with the tools and the tech stack to build the next generation of interoperable DApps that will allow assets, information and liquidity to flow freely between all chains.

Here's a closer look at Flare Network and its native FLR token.

What is Flare?

Flare is an EVM-based Layer 1 aiming to make blockchain more useful by providing decentralized access to high-integrity data from other chains and the internet. It is an interoperability-focused blockchain system built on a proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. It has two core interoperability protocols – State Connector and the Flare Time Series Oracle.

The State Connector enables Flare to safely and trustlessly come to a consensus over an event that has occurred externally to the network, for example, a blockchain transaction between two parties or the content of an API on the internet. It is designed to integrate seamlessly with external blockchains, allowing developers to build DApps across chains freely.

The Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO) is a highly decentralized oracle network that safely retrieves external time series data, such as digital asset price pairs, for use on Flare. It takes data at predetermined intervals from an independent network of data providers incentivized to deliver accurate data. FLR token holders can participate in the system by wrapping and then delegating their tokens to data providers. In return, they receive a share of the rewards. This mechanism further incentivizes the provision of accurate data, whereby the most successful data providers will attract the most delegations.

Flare Network is widely anticipated by decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms — as well as crypto investors — because the types of data available on-chain currently constrain development of new use cases. To achieve greater real-world utility and adoption, DApps need access to an increased variety of data from blockchains like Flare.  

Flare Network Token (FLR) Uses

Previously known as Spark (FLR), Flare Network's native token is now referred to as Flare (FLR). FLR is created to maintain consistent usage costs, support the native data and interoperability protocols and facilitate a variety of use cases, including DeFi, NFTs, metaverse and gaming. 

The primary purpose of FLR is to prevent spam attacks via transaction fees. After all, if transactions were completely free of charge, users would be able to spam and congest Flare Network with pointless transactions.

FLR has several other uses besides spam control and payments within the Flare Network. When wrapped into WFLR, it achieves more programmable functions like collateral in DApps on Flare blockchains, delegation to the FTSO to support the delivery of decentralized data to the network and participation in governance.

Flare was set to be launched in phases. After over two years of development, Flare launched on Jul 14, 2022 as a soft beta on a private observation mode. By Sep 30, Flare Network had commenced its public observation mode.

Flare (FLR) Airdrop to XRP Holders

Of the 100 billion genesis FLR tokens, 58.3%, or 58.3 billion FLR, are set aside for the community, with 28.5 billion of the 58.3% allocated to the direct public token distribution, also known as the FlareDrop Distribution. 

The first 15% of these public tokens, or 4.3 billion FLR, were successfully distributed on Jan 9, 2023 to wallets that held XRP during a snapshot completed in December 2020. The remaining 85%, or 24.2 billion FLR, will be made available on-chain, in a decentralized manner, to all wallets that hold Wrapped Flare (WFLR). Almost 700 million FLR will be proportionally shared by WFLR holders every 30 days for a total of 36 installments.

Source: flare.network

The airdrop is slowly being rolled out to ensure that users don't instantly sell all of their FLR tokens after receiving them (which would likely lead to a massive price drop).

While many XRP owners are interested in using Flare because of the utility created by these tokens, a small percentage of individuals are only looking to claim FLR because it’s essentially “free money.” Another step that’s been taken to mitigate the potential for adverse effects from the airdrop involves limiting the amount of liquidity available on the market at any given time. The lengthy unlock process naturally reduces total liquidity.

To ensure that glitches and other technical issues are kept to a minimum during the Flare Network launch, the reputable firm known as Trail of Bits performed a comprehensive audit, which began on May 16, 2022 and ended after the first week of June. On Jun 16, the results of the audit were announced. The audit found no significant defects or flaws that could negatively impact the network, allowing for a proper launch on Jul 14, 2022.

2020 Flare Sees An Update in 2022

Flare is a larger project than was initially envisioned in 2020. Instead of serving a single community with a single utility, Flare’s protocols are designed to provide developers with the tools and the tech stack to build the next generation of interoperable DApps that will allow assets, information and liquidity to flow freely between all chains. By expanding their scope and performing additional research and engineering before the Flare launch, the Flare team was able to build something much more promising.

The latest Flare model offers advancements in cross-chain functionality with decentralized systems. Before now, token bridging was only possible by using systems that were mostly centralized. As such, token bridging was effectively a digital version of the standard banking model. Meanwhile, the fully decentralized options were considerably slower, which meant that investors were tasked with choosing between a sluggish system and an unsafe one.

Flare is designed to be an advanced network that features cross-chain interoperability. This system will facilitate a fully decentralized cross-chain future, which is considerably safer than the current alternative. Flare's open protocols allow developers to create many different kinds of interoperability solutions. Flare Network’s goal is to connect everything while still maintaining a decentralized system.

To make sure that the Flare ecosystem has the level of connectivity that it requires to grow and thrive immediately after launch, Flare is providing developers with a comprehensive incentive program, the Flare Ecosystem Grants Program, and has also developed a canary network, Songbird, for the testing of their products and protocols.

What Makes Flare Special?

Flare and the FLR coin have already been met with optimism by the crypto community because of how the system works and what it will do for cross-chain interoperability. Once Flare is introduced, interoperability without any amount of centralization becomes possible. 

Flare's native interoperability protocols, the State Connector and the FTSO, are secured by the network itself. This allows Flare to reliably deliver data from multiple off-chain sources in a decentralized way. By incentivizing sets of independent providers to query, acquire and process data without relying on single, centralized sources, Flare’s core protocols can facilitate the development of a new generation of interoperable DApps with a broad range of potential innovative use cases. 

This network is designed to integrate EVM, a system that can convert smart contracts into a list of instructions that computers can properly read. As such, the network can run Turing-complete smart contracts. This term means that nearly every type of computational task can be run as long as the system has enough memory for the process.

Once the network is up and running, it will create a well-realized ecosystem of DApps, which ensures that smart contract networks can adequately scale.

FLR Tokenomics

FLR was released in the markets on Jan 10, 2023 at $0.04. FLR is considered to be an inflationary token as FTSO will pay out any newly minted FLR coins. Based on its original token distribution plan, the annual inflation is set at 10% each year of all FLR tokens.

However, Flare initiated a governance proposal regarding its token distribution, the FIP.01 proposal, to reduce both short-term and long-term inflation. Now the proposal has passed, the inflation will be adjusted to 10% of circulating supply in year 1, 7% in year 2, and 5% in year 3 onward, capped at 5 billion FLR tokens per year. 70% of the tokens are allocated to its FTSO rewards, 20% to its validator rewards, and 10% to the default Attestation Provider Set of the State Connector.

Source: flare.network

Is FLR a Good Investment?

Flare has created an extensive road map, which begins with the network's main launch as well as the distribution of the first 15% of FLR coins. The next phase of development involves the FIP.01 proposal as mentioned above. The purpose of this proposal is not merely to improve the long-term economics of the token. There are many added benefits, such as increasing incentives for users to engage with Flare Network, eradicating the risk of an exchange not passing on token distributions, and better token liquidity management.

Since Flare's FLR tokens already have strong connections to established cryptocurrencies, so you can be confident in investing in FLR. The many benefits of investing in FLR tokens include:

• Direct connection to the Ripple (XRP) cryptocurrency

• A strong team headed by Hugo Philion and Sean Rowan

• Already listed on numerous major exchanges

• Predictable governance system

• Many practical use cases

• Compatibility with multiple wallets

Where To Buy Flare (FLR)

FLR is available on multiple popular exchanges, including Bybit. Bybit is among the top exchanges today, and it has a hassle-free trading experience for its users. To get started with trading the FLR/USDT Spot pair on Bybit, simply create a Bybit account and fund it with USDT.

Flare (FLR) Price Prediction

In general, it's impossible to predict Flare’s token price over the next few years. However, Flare's structure means that the FLR coin should be relatively consistent. FLR is comparable to other Layer 1 coins like Ethereum (ETH).

Looking specifically at ETH, it had consistent growth in the first few years that it was on the market and increased rapidly at the beginning of 2021. FLR is likely to have a similar trajectory, which means that the coin's market cap should grow at a steady rate over the next few years.

The Bottom Line

We hope that our guide to Flare has helped you understand what it is — and how its native FLR tokens further advance the industry and provide other networks with the opportunity to achieve fully decentralized cross-chain interoperability.

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