FLOW: the "Lego" of blockchains
Flow begins with a Canadian company called Axiom Zen. Axiom Zen quote is a startup that builds a startup. Axiom Zen has successfully incubated five businesses so far. Axiom Zen was founded in 2012 by Stanford Educated Biologist Economist and Entrepreneur Roham Gharegozlou. Roham and his team have been dabbling in cryptocurrency since 2013 and in 2017 they launched the CryptoKitties NFT games and the digital assets that are used within games.
In 2018 Axiom Zen founded Dapper Labs, a Canadian Software Company that took ownership of the CryptoKitties brand and aims to drive crypto adoption with NFTs. Shortly after its founding Dapper Labs raised 12 million dollars from various Crypto VCS and has since then raised over 600 million dollars in total bringing the company's valuation to nearly 8 billion dollars.
Dapper Labs began offering previews of the Flow blockchain in 2019 and its beta main net launched in May 2020. In October 2020 Flow's first killer dap was deployed on its blockchain and since has become one of the most popular NFT marketplaces cryptocurrency by both user activity and trading volume
Flow is a fast, decentralized, and developer-friendly blockchain, designed as the foundation for a new generation of games, apps, and the digital assets that power them. It is based on a unique, multi-role architecture, and designed to scale without sharding, allowing for massive improvements in speed and throughput while preserving a developer-friendly, ACID-compliant environment.
Flow empowers developers to build thriving crypto- and crypto-enabled businesses. Applications on Flow can keep consumers in control of their own data; create new kinds of digital assets tradable on open markets accessible from anywhere in the world; and build open economies owned by the users that help make them valuable.
Smart contracts on Flow can be assembled like Lego blocks to power apps serving billions of people, from basketball fans to businesses with mission-critical requirements.
There are four pillars that make Flow unique among existing blockchains:
Multi-role architecture: Flow’s design is unique, allowing the network to scale to serve billions of users without sharding or reducing the decentralization of consensus.
Resource-oriented programming: smart contracts on Flow are written in Cadence, an easier and safer programming language for crypto-assets and apps.
Developer ergonomics: from upgradeable smart contracts and built-in logging support to the Flow Emulator, this network is designed for results.
Consumer onboarding: Flow was designed for mainstream consumers, with payment onramps catalyzing a safe and low-friction path from fiat to crypto.
In a traditional blockchain, every node stores the entire state (account balances, smart contract code, etc.) and performs all of the work associated with processing every transaction in the chain. This is analogous to having a single worker build an entire car.
From manufacturing to CPU design, pipelining is a common technique for dramatically scaling up productivity. Flow applies pipelining to blockchains by separating the jobs of a validator node into four different roles: Collection, Consensus, Execution, and Verification. This separation of labor between nodes is vertical (across the different validation stages for each transaction) rather than horizontal (across different transactions, as with sharding).
In other words, every validator node still participates in the validation of every transaction, but they do so only at one of the stages of validation. They can therefore specialize for — and greatly increase the efficiency of — their particular stage of focus.
This allows Flow to scale to thousands of times higher throughput and lower cost while maintaining a shared execution environment for all operations on the network. In database terms, smart contracts and user accounts on Flow can always interact with each other in one atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable (ACID) transaction. This ensures a good user experience and full composability, letting developers easily build on each other’s work.
On Flow, every application can be a platform.
Smart contracts and user accounts on Flow can always interact with each other in one atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable (ACID) transaction. In other words: all applications on Flow can run in the same shared execution state.
This ensures Flow apps benefit from great user experience and full composability, letting developers easily build on each other’s work.
Sharding and layer 2 solutions break composability and reduce network effects for dapps and smart contracts by removing ACID guarantees from the execution environment.
Flow is designed such that even a single honest node, of any role, can punish and trigger recovery from invalid data introduced by dishonest Collection or Execution Nodes.
Consensus and Verification Nodes together are the foundation of security in the Flow network and leverage crypto-economic incentives to hold the rest of the network accountable. These validators can optimize for security and decentralization: the roles of Consensus and Verification are streamlined to allow high levels of participation, even by individuals with consumer-grade hardware running on home internet connections. Consensus nodes run a variant of HotStuff, one of the most proven proofs of stake algorithms.
Flow is the blockchain for open worlds.
Developed by the team behind some of the most successful crypto applications on the Ethereum network, Flow is a blockchain re-designed from the ground up to be user- and developer-friendly as well as modular and future-proof.
Flow’s novel four-node architecture achieves massive improvements in speed and cost that scale with hardware capacity without compromising decentralization or breaking up the network into shards or “layer two” solutions.
Source: Flow
The FLOW token (“FLOW” or “𝔽”) is the native currency for the Flow network and the keystone for a new, inclusive, and borderless digital economy. If blockchains are digital infrastructure, the Flow token is the fuel that powers the network.
FLOW has several important characteristics that make it the ideal currency for a new generation of games, consumer applications, and the digital assets that will power them:
Diverse use-cases
Broad distribution
Low monetary inflation
Three Phases of Flow
Phase I: Beta Mainnet Live
The Flow Beta Mainnet began operating as of May 15, 2020. On June 15, we invited the first cohort of beta testers into NBA Top Shot. NBA Top Shot was the first application launched on Flow – proving the network’s functionality and business value through real usage.
During Phase I, the network has been operating without a token or staking rewards – users have been primarily using credit cards and non-FLOW cryptocurrencies for payment, and validator node partners have been running their systems without compensation in preparation.
Phase II: Token Generation and Distribution
At the start of this Phase, 1.25 billion FLOW were created. While the network is fully functional and the tokens have immediate utility, all tokens distributed during Phase II will remain fully locked up for one year. The lockup and transfer restrictions begin at the moment of token generation, making sure pre-launch backers, team members, and the early community are on equal footing.
Source: Flow
Large & Small Backers Prior to launch, Dapper Labs closed approximately $24.6M in funding via convertible notes expected to convert into FLOW tokens. All tokens set aside for conversion purposes to pre-launch backers are subject to the same terms and lockups: 24 months with a one-year cliff. Convertible note backers include the world’s top experts in crypto and entertainment including a16z crypto, Union Square Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Samsung NEXT, Fenbushi Digital, Accomplice, Venrock, Blockchange, Distributed Global, BlockTower, Valor Capital, and Warner Music Group, as well as leading figures in sports, music, and gaming. No matter the investor, we kept an eye towards increasing decentralization and limiting individual ownership. Backers that own at least 10M FLOW tokens at Genesis include:
Source: Flow
We also made it a priority at every turn to onboard community members, content partners, and backers from our community to be part of the Flow ecosystem. Angel investors who are part of the Flow mission include William Mougayar, Bill Tai, and Don Mattrick, as well as NBA stars Andre Iguodala (Miami Heat), JaVale Mcgee (Los Angeles Lakers), Spencer Dinwiddie (Brooklyn Nets), and Aaron Gordon (Orlando Magic), among 20+ other founders and chief executives. Ecosystem Development 350 million FLOW tokens have been set aside for ecosystem development to help bootstrap network effects and ensure a diverse and accessible community over the long term. Recipients of Flow ecosystem support include entrepreneurial support organizations, non-profits, and academic institutions including Berkeley, Purdue, UC Davis, and Rochester Institute of Technology. These groups share FLOW credits with their communities and broaden accessibility. Flow ecosystem development programs are designed to reward the efforts of a decentralized community building sustainable value – not speculation. As a result, FLOW tokens distributed through these programs in the first year will be subject to lockups and transfer restrictions that expire no sooner than the first unlock date applied to early backers and the team. Ecosystem development programs also include token leases for purposes of staking, allowing reputable community organizations to participate in the network and earn rewards. Phase III: Staking Rewards Begin
Guided by discussions with our early validator community, December 15 is the estimated date when Phase III begins and validator rewards are enabled on mainnet. At this time, validator rewards will begin being distributed to staked nodes. These reward tokens will be liquid for use on the network as soon as they are withdrawn by the node operator. On Flow, 100% of inflation is distributed to stakers – meaning holders of Flow will not be diluted as long as you are actively participating. In other words, new issuance is only distributed to validators staking and performing work to support the network, or delegators directly pledging their tokens against a specific validator’s dependability. The only circulating tokens in the first year are expected to be from rewards paid to validator node operators that are staking their tokens. As a result, Flow will have an elevated inflation rate at launch to kickstart liquidity and increase accessibility to the token. While the community will ultimately be able to adjust reward parameters, an indicative inflation schedule is shown below.
Source: Flow
The expected staking percentage is expected to decline over time as additional use cases become available, such as infused tokens. As this occurs, Flow is designed to minimize inflation and will optimize this against providing sufficient rewards for validators.
Over the long term, Flow is designed to limit new issuance of FLOW tokens as much as possible, with a total target pool established to pay to validators consisting of i) transaction fees paid to the network; and ii) new FLOW tokens instantiated. New issuance is offset by the fees collected by the network. Because of this, high levels of transaction throughput result in lower annual issuance.
Circulating Supply The table below shows an indication of circulating supply over time as tokens unlock and new tokens are issued to validators. It’s important to note that circulating supply in year one is expected to come from staking rewards paid to FLOW token holders who are either staking their token directly or through an approved provider (such as CoinList). These rewards will be paid in proportion to the amount staked and will be freely transferable after being claimed.
Source: Flow
Figures represent theoretical maximums (i.e., Total Supply assuming max inflation, where none is reduced by collected fees) and may be rounded for presentation purposes. The difference between circulating supply and total token supply are the Dapper Labs allocation of 250 million tokens which are held in our long-term reserve and cannot be sold without lock-up periods, as well as the portions of the ecosystem fund such as the collateral reserve and the Foundation endowment (approximately 250 million total) that similarly will not enter direct circulation.
FLOW coins can be purchased in several big exchanges such as:
1 Binance Exchange - you can purchase Binance Coin (BNB) using your mobile phone or desktop. You only need to follow the step as instructed. You can also receive a 25% discount on trading fees using Binance Coin (BNB). Use the link above for a bonus 10% discount
2. Kraken Trade NMR and other cryptos and get 10% discount on trading fees.
3. Get free crypto by browsing the internet: use Brave Browser instead of Edge or Chrome, block ads, and earn free crypto by browsing. Click here to start.
4. Get free crypto by paying your bills! Use the prepaid CRO Visa debit card to pay for purchases and receive 3% cash back on purchases, up to 100% rebate for streaming services. No account fees, no interest charges, no credit checks. Use this link to get a free US$25 when you open an account.
5. OKX, you can purchase cryptocurrencies using this link to sign up and get a 10% discount on trading fees.
6. Bitunix you can purchase cryptocurrencies using this link to sign up and get a 10% discount on trading fees.
7. For the Aussies: Coinstash is an Australian crypto exchange based in Brisbane. New users can get $10 free on signup using this link
8. After you purchase any cryptocurrencies, if you would like to store the coins in offline devices for safety, you can use Ledger
Congratulations on educating yourself about this crypto project through Cryllionaire.com. We also profile a few coin projects, CEO interviews, and group chats on our YouTube channel.
If you find investing on your own to be difficult or time-consuming, we have you covered! Bostoncoin is a "done for you" diversified crypto fund where you can easily invest in 30-40 coins. A professional hedge fund manager manages the investment, so you can handle your busy lifestyle. Join the community and find out more at www.BostonTrading.co