The Network
Flare is the first Turing complete Federated Byzantine Agreement (FBA) network. It integrates the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with a protocol (FXRP) built to safely enable the trustless issuance, usage, and redemption of XRP on Flare.
The Basics
As explained on a Flare Twitter feed titled “Episode #1: “What Is the Flare Network”, Flare is a utility network or fork that acts as a “two-way bridge between two networks” connecting it to other blockchains and crypto-assets. The concept behind Flare is to bring over or release trapped financial value that is sitting dormant on other networks and not being utilized. The first network to be connected to Flare is the XRP ledger, with XRP as the first asset to be trustlessly issued onto Flare as FXRP.
FXRP is a 1-1 representation of XRP. Anyone who holds XRP can mint FXRP trustlessly and bring it onto the XRP ledger. With this, XRP possesses smart contract capabilities on Flare with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, utilizing all the same smart contracts that are built on Ethereum. The XRP system is backed by the Flare token, Spark (FLR).
Initiative To Distribute Flare Tokens
Initiative 1: Spark (FLR) Airdrop
The first of two initiatives recently announced is a massive airdrop of 100 Billion Spark (FLR) Tokens to XRP holders.
Once the network goes live, Flare is planning a slow rollout: each eligible holder will immediately receive 15% of their claimable Spark tokens. They will then claim an average of 3% per month, which will continue for a minimum of 25 months, up to a maximum of 34 months.
All XRP owners, with some exceptions, can claim the Spark token. Utilizing the snapshot of all XRP Ledger addresses at a specific ledger index number taken on at 00:00 GMT on 12/12/20, Spark tokens will then be distributed to those owners proportional to their XRP balance in the snapshot. Based on the addresses of holders, XRP owners may in effect claim more than 1 Spark token for each XRP token that they hold.
The idea behind a slow rollout is intended to discourage users from immediately selling their Spark (FLR) tokens on the market, which could result in a drastic price drop or other negative effects.
“It has always been our stated position that the best people to provide capital to underpin the trustless issuance of FXRP on Flare are the people who own XRP. The only way to achieve this fairly is, in our opinion, the distribution of Spark that is taking place.”
Rather than embracing Flare and Spark for the utility it creates, a certain percentage of people will wish to claim Spark only because they believe that it is ‘free money.’ To reduce the negative effects from this dynamic, the amount of liquidity that can be put into the market at any one time is therefore limited by the extended unlock process.”
Initiative 2: Songbird (SGB) Airdrop
On July 20, 2021, the Flare Network announced a new airdrop along with the launch of a “Canary” Network called Songbird.
Those XRP holders who participated in the Spark (FLR) token airdrop are set to receive the Songbird ($SGB) token, which will be a one-time distribution and in the same proportions to all recipients of the FLR airdrop. It’s anticipated to be released within six weeks from the time of their announcement.
As explained in the Flare Songbird report, “a ‘Canary network’ is an operational blockchain with a defined (and hence scarce) token supply that is intended to be used to test features for a related main net.” Having exhausted all learnings from testing of the Flare network and its core protocols on an isolated network, Flare is moving to the live testing on an operational block, or the “Canary” network for Flare, called Songbird.
Songbird will play a significant role in the continued testing of the Flare network architecture and the Time Series Oracle, the StateConnector, and F-Asset systems.
CEO and co-founder Hugo Philion explains that the “defined and scarce token supply may confer value to the token, potentially making it attractive to attackers such that testing is as “real” as it can possibly get.” This, he says, will serve to further secure the system under testing by minimizing the surface of vulnerability and attack.
The use of Songbird also allows FLR token holders to “familiarize themselves with key Flare protocols such as delegation to the FTSO, minting of F-Assets, and usage of applications that build on Flare without putting their FLR tokens at risk.”
The substantial testing of all systems on Songbird along with the current final security audit is scheduled to finish at the end of September.
