Layerzero has integrated with Flare, a layer one (L1) blockchain, to connect it with 75 other blockchains. This integration aims to broaden the scope of decentralized applications (dapps) and improve data sharing across networks. Flare and Layerzero Partnership Aims to Enhance Dapp Accessibility According to an announcement shared with Bitcoin.com News, this integration represents an […]
Bitcoin News
Hex Trust to Launch USDX Stablecoin on Flare, Offering Real-World Yield
On May 21, 2024, Hex Trust Group announced the introduction of a native stablecoin, USDX, for the Flare network. Hex Trust also revealed that a Clearpool vault, enabling holders to earn a real-world yield, will debut alongside USDX. Hex Trust’s USDX Stablecoin and Clearpool Vault Aim to Enhance Flare’s Defi Ecosystem Founded in 2018, the […]
Bitcoin News
Genesis Digital Assets to Launch Flare Gas Powered Bitcoin Mining Site in Argentina
Genesis Digital Assets, a leading digital miner, has partnered with YPF Luz, an Argentine power company, to receive power from a flare gas installation to operate a bitcoin mining site in Argentina. The data center facility, in the Bajo del Toro thermoelectric plant, will host 1,200 bitcoin miners. Genesis Digital Assets to Operate Flare Gas […]
Bitcoin News
Google Cloud Joins Flare Network Causing FLR Jump
Google Cloud enters the blockchain infrastructure industry by joining Flare as a network validator and infrastructure provider, causing Flare’s token FLR to jump in price.
Flare Network Welcomes Google Cloud, FLR token surges
Google Cloud has joined the Flare network as a network validator and infrastructure provider. Flare, self-described as “the blockchain for data,” is working to improve the way developers access decentralized data through its oracle system. Google Cloud is one of more than 100 organizations in this dual role.
In addition to validating transactions on the Flare blockchain, Google Cloud will also contribute to the Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO). A blockchain oracle is a bridge that connects blockchain networks to external data sources, enabling smart contracts to interact with and execute based on real-world data and events. They expand the functionality of blockchains, allowing them to integrate with and respond to information outside their native network, thereby broadening the scope and practical applications of blockchain technology. The FTSO aims to ensure the provision of high-quality, decentralized data.
Hugo Philion, Co-Founder and CEO of Flare, expressed his enthusiasm about Google Cloud’s addition to their network. He highlighted the importance of decentralized data in the evolution of smart contract platforms and how Google Cloud’s participation will contribute to a more robust ecosystem.
James Tromans, Head of Web3 at Google Cloud, also emphasized the critical role of scalable data access in expanding blockchain use cases and global adoption.
Data access at scale is important to increase relevant blockchain use cases and greater global adoption of the technology. Google Cloud becoming a validator on the Flare network will help support that mission.
Following the announcement, FLR’s market capitalization has surged to over 0 million, with its price per token seeing an over 20% increase.
Do you think other cloud computing providers will enter the crypto industry in 2024? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Latam Insights: Volcano Bonds Target Q1 2024 Launch, Unblock Global $15 Million Bitcoin Flare Gas Bet
Welcome to Latam Insights, a compendium of Latin America’s most relevant crypto and economic news during the last week. In this issue: The Salvadoran Volcano Bonds might be launched in Q1 2024, Unblock Global raised million for a flare gas mining project in Vaca Muerta, and Argentine President Javier Milei axes ministries to reduce state expenditure.
Salvadoran Volcano Bonds Target Q1 2024 Launch
Discussion about the Salvadoran Bitcoin Volcano Bonds, a series of digital on-chain debt instruments that would help to fund the construction of the so-called Bitcoin City in El Salvador, has resurfaced after the approval of the regulatory framework enabling its issuance.
The bonds, to be issued by Bitfinex Securities using Blockstream tech, are now estimated to be launched in Q1 2024, according to a recent post from the Bitcoin Office in El Salvador. The institution highlighted the significance of this move, stressing that the approval of this regulation marked “just the beginning for new capital markets on bitcoin in El Salvador.”
Stacy Herbert, head of the Bitcoin Office, explained they were working on the size of the offer, estimated to be around billion, and that issuing these first sovereign bonds will help develop new capital markets around Bitcoin.
Unblock Global Raises Million to Take Advantage of Flare Gas Possibilities for Bitcoin Mining in Argentina
Unblock Global, a Bitcoin mining company, announced it had raised million to take advantage of the flare gas possibilities for Bitcoin mining in Vaca Muerta, one of the largest oil reservoirs in Argentina. The capital raise, which had the participation of Crusoe Energy, Pampa Energia, and Petrocuyo, will enable Vaca Muerta to produce oil with less emissions, according to Tomas Ocampo, founder of Unblock Computing, an Argentine branch of Unblock Global.
Ocampo explained that burning 10% of methane in flare gas helps reduce oil emissions’ impact seven times. Ocampo also remarked that Unblock Global was the second company executing this kind of bitcoin flare-mining project.
Argentine President Javier Milei Axes Ministries to Reduce State Expenditures
The newly proclaimed Argentine President Javier Milei has started fulfilling one of his campaign promises, slashing several existing ministries to reduce state expenditure. As part of his shock adjustment policies, Milei slashed the number of ministries to nine, targeting a reduction of 5% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in public spending.
Milei also led a reduction of public subsidies for energy and transportation that will be executed next year and devalued the Argentine peso’s value by more than 50%. “We are without doubt facing the worst legacy in our history, a country where Argentines are increasingly poorer,” Economy Minister Luis Caputo concluded.
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Ripple CTO Advises Selling Flare (FLR) Tokens, Raises Serious Allegations
Ripple CTO David Schwartz voiced harsh criticism against the Flare Network in a series of tweets today. After more than two years following the snapshot for XRP holders, the project finally conducted its airdrop for the FLR token on Monday, January 9.
As NewsBTC reported, the FLR token already experienced a massive dump of more than 71% on Bitrue in the run-up to the airdrop, where the token could already be traded as IOU. After that, things didn’t get much better and FLR dropped even further, totaling a loss of 93% since Sunday, January 8. At press time, FLR was trading at .0437.
Thus, the FLR price is in no man’s land. The IOU on the token debuted back in January 2021 at Bitrue and started at a price of .0831. After that, the FLR token went up to .2472. At no point did FLR trade below its January 2021 debut price.
Ripple CTO Raises Harsh Allegations Against Flare Team
Via Twitter, Ripple’s chief technology officer wrote that the current rules for holding Flare for subsequent airdrops provide absolutely no incentive not to sell Flare now. “You lose *nothing* if you sell now,” Schwartz said.
He added that while it’s true that XRP holders miss out on subsequent airdrops, you don’t lose them. As the Ripple CTO explained, you can get 100% of their value if you sell your Flare, as the buyer can wrap the token and get the airdrops.
In general, Schwartz considers the distribution of the airdrop “a very strange decision.” For a long time, the project advertised that XRP holders would receive the full amount of FLR tokens right away.
However, the team did not keep its promise. They declared that with the first airdrop, only 15% of the total amount of 1.0073 FLR will be distributed for each XRP. The remaining 85% of FLR tokens will be airdropped in 36 monthly installments, with the method of distribution still dependent on a community vote.
Schwartz sees this as a breach of their commitment. “I want to be wrong, but I don’t see how,” the Ripple CTO said, following up with another serious allegation:
I feel bad saying this. I love the project and want the best for it and want to believe the best about it. But my honest opinion is that they leveraged the XRP community to grow and weakened their promises drastically when they felt they didn’t need it anymore.
While Schwartz qualified his statement in the following tweet when he wrote that this doesn’t mean they are “dishonest or that their project is bad,” he also said that XRP has evolved while the Flare Network team “failed to deliver on some promises” from the early days.
You can love Flare and love XRP too. It’s not one or the other. But I don’t have happy fuzzy feelings about how it went down.
Schwartz Advises To Sell The FLR Token (Later)
In response to a user’s follow-up question about whether it is now the best time to “take profits,” Schwartz replied:
I’m not saying people should sell. I’m just saying that they are acting irrationally if they don’t sell because they want the value of the remaining 85% of the airdrop. That’s just not rational.
Another user countered the argument by saying that FLR is already “worthless” after the massive crash, so owners of the token should rather wait. The Ripple CTO agreed, citing that “now is probably the worst time to sell. It would be kind of silly not to wait that out.”
Featured image from Forbes, Chart from TradingView.com
Ripple (XRP) Related Flare Network Token Airdrop: FLR dumps by 71%
In late 2020, the Flare Network attracted a lot of attention in the Ripple (XRP) community. The creators wanted to open up the DeFi space for Ripple and announced an airdrop of Flare (FLR) tokens for all XRP holders.
However, holders of XRP had to be patient for a long time. The launch was postponed several times. But today is finally the day: at 6:59 p.m. EST, the distribution of FLR tokens will take place.
The FLR Token Distribution event is just 24 hours away.
Join the #Flare team and guests on Twitter tomorrow. The distribution starts at 23:59 UTC sharp. The stream will start a few minutes before.#ConnectEverything pic.twitter.com/CLtmUird1Z
— Flare
(@FlareNetworks) January 8, 2023
However, there is also bad news. Just before the launch, the FLR/USDT trading pair is seeing a massive dump of around 71% on Bitrue.
The exchange was the only trading platform besides Poloniex to date where FLR could be traded as an IOU. As can be seen in the 1-day chart from TradingView, the FLR/USDT pair has seen a massive dip over the last two days on Bitrue.
The token was trading at .5394 yesterday and crashed to a low of .1559 at times today before recovering to .2395 at press time. With this, the FLR token is still posting a loss of around 55% compared to two days ago.
Airdrop For XRP Holders Is Finally Here – Too Late?
When the project started, the narrative was clear: Ripple (XRP) lacked access to the booming sector of decentralized finance (DeFi). This has since changed, at least in part. Ripple has been developing a bridge to Ethereum (ETH) on its own to enable smart contracts and DeFi. Moreover, the XRP Ledger now has a DEX and its own NFT standard.
To adapt to it, the project now aims to provide smart contract capabilities for blockchains without them, starting with Ripple (XRP). Flare Network is a layer 1 Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) based interoperable blockchain based on the Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism.
However, whether Flare Network can convince investors after its 2-year delay with its new approach or whether there will be another dump tonight when the majority of Ripple (XRP) investors receive their FLR tokens, remains to be seen. Today’s dump suggests that some investors may not be interested in FLR in the long term.
FLR Token Distribution
For every 1 XRP in the snapshot (taken in December 2020), 1.0073 FLR will be airdropped. Today, the first 15% of this amount will be distributed via airdrop. The remaining 85% of the tokens will be paid out in 36 monthly installments. The method of distribution depends on the outcome of the community vote on the Flare Improvement Proposal 01 (FIP.01).
If the community approves the proposal, the remaining 36 monthly distributions will be decentralized on the chain. The tokens will be divided among the wallets that packaged FLR tokens (WFLR).
If the community rejects the proposal, the same self-storage wallets and the same centralized exchanges that received the initial airdrop will receive one airdrop per month for 36 months.
Featured image from iStock, Chart from TradingView.com
Flare Finance To Reward ExFi Participants with 1 Million $YFLR
Flare Finance, the first DeFi network to be launched on the Flare Network, recently announced the launch of an Experimental Finance platform. This first-of-a-kind initiative will be launched on the Songbird Network. While the final Flare Finance platform will be launched with six products, the ExFi platform will only include FlareX, FlareFarm, and FlareLoans.
1 million $YFLR Rewards
Flare Finance has announced that they will reward the participants of the ExFi platforms with a 1m $YFLR pool. 650,000 $DLFR have been allocated to the participants who take part in yield farming by staking in the SGB, SGB/CAND, and DFLR farming pools. 350,000 $DFLR has been reserved to reward participants who mint Canary Dollar (stable coin) and stake in the pools on FlareLoans. The distribution of rewards will take place over 63 days ensuring consistent testing of all the products.
Once the main Network is launched, participants who have earned $DFLR on the ExFi platform can migrate their $DFLR to the Flare Network and receive the $YFLR on the main network. It is important to note that Flare Finance will be rewarding and later airdropping $DFLR which will have to be converted into $YFLR. This needs to be done by everyone who has received $DFLR after the snapshot. The snapshot of Spark token holders will be taken a month after the Flare Network launch.
A total of 40 million $DFLR will be airdropped to holders of $FLR tokens and a million $YFLR will be unlocked from the team’s allocation. With the additional 1 million $YFLR coming from ExFi rewards, the launch supply of the $YFLR will be 42 million $YFLR. The Flare Finance website offers further details into tokenomics.
The ExFi Platform
Flare Finance has announced the launch of the Experimental Finance platform to ensure that only battle-tested products reach the mainnet and all the risks get eliminated on the ExFi platform. The experimental network called Songbird will be launched by Flare Network. It will exist even after the mainnet to enable developers to deploy and test newer products. The utility token of the platform would be $SGB with a fixed supply and 10% inflation per year.
The first Experimental Finance platform on Songbird will enable developers to test different scenarios on the platform. However, not all products created on the ExFi platform are expected to make it to the main network. The ExFi platform will have no governance portal allowing it to be tested bare bones using the $SGB, $CAND, and $DFLR. Once the main network is launched; the governance is expected to begin together on both the Main and Experimental Network.
What Next?
Users have the opportunity to test the network before its launch and earn $YFLR in the process. Besides, it will also help them in crafting strategies once the Main Network is launched. This ExFi platform will also allow users to gain experience, test the network, and get a feel of things to come on the main network. The BETA program will also be revised to fit the new schedule. More information will be revealed in the coming days by Flare Finance.
Flare Finance Announces Partnership with XinFin Network
Flare Finance has announced a partnership with XinFin Network which could be one of the most significant events of crypto space in 2021. While a lot has been spoken about interoperability and bridging communities, Flare Finance is on the way to becoming the epicentre of communities. With this partnership, Flare Finance and XinFin Network would have a bi-directional bridge allowing assets from either chain to be wrapped and utilized onto the other chain. So, essentially XDC would be wrapped and bridged from XinFin Network to Flare Network. Similarly, Flare Network tokens could be minted to XinFin Network bringing F-Assets to XinFin Network.
The True Interoperability
Flare Finance has also announced that it will support XinFin Network’s native token, XDC across all the products. This would mean that XDC holders could mine YFIN by participating in the Flare Farm or XDC holders could use their XDC as collateral via FlareLoans to take out loans or borrow stable coins by staking XDC while earning a variable APY in YFIN on borrowing as well as lending. Flare Finance has a total of 6 products which can be studied in detail from the Flare Finance website. It is important to note that Flare Finance is the first DeFi network to be built on Flare Network. However, even before its release, many are already anticipating Flare Finance to become the best DeFi Network.
It is essential to understand that Flare Finance is a separate entity from the Flare Network and is a platform built on it. The Flare Network is a distributed network running the Avalanche consensus protocol adapted to the Federated Byzantine Agreement and leveraging the Ethereum Virtual Machine. It aims at unlocking the value of locked assets on chains that do not have native smart contracts. This will enable additional utility for these tokens while the network’s native token will function as collateral for the trustless issuance of assets. XRP, XLM, Doge, and LTC will be the F-assets at the launch of the network. Once the network is live, other assets could be added based on voting. Algorand and XDC are a few tokens that are anticipated to apply for integration with Flare.
XinFin Network
On the other hand, XinFin Network is an enterprise-ready hybrid blockchain for trade and finance. It is widely considered as an alternative to Ethereum courtesy of its capacity of 2000 TPS with low fees. The average time to complete a transaction on XinFin Network’s protocol, XDPoS, is only 2 seconds. XinFin Network is also counted among the most energy-efficient networks as it consumes only around 0.0000074 TWh as per data available on XinFin website. XinFin Network is also believed to be working with governments to reduce the gap in global infrastructure. Private chain generation, EVM parallelization, and hardware integration are expected to arrive on the XinFin Network in the future.
The Future of DeFi
Flare Finance has already announced that a range of assets including FLR, XRP, LTC, XLM, DOGE, ALGO, ADA, SHIB, SANSHU, TEL, CEL, BNB, CAKE, and now XDC would be utilized in the Flare Finance ecosystem. More assets are expected to be added by voting once the network goes live. With such a well-rounded ecosystem comprising assets from across chains, Flare Finance is not only linking these chains but communities and ecosystems as well.
For DeFi to ever become a viable alternative to banks for the general public, such wider integrations would be vital. It appears Flare Finance has already taken the first step in the right direction and positioned itself to be a leader of DeFi space. The race to be the top DeFi platform has only intensified with the advancements made by Flare Finance. The game is only beginning, so HODL your bags and be prepared to become part of cutting-edge DeFi platforms.
Flare Raises $11.3M in New Investment Round
Flare, the blockchain network running on the Federated Byzantine Agreement (FBA) consensus mechanism, has raised .3M in its latest fundraising round. Contributions to Flare came from a slew of prominent names in crypto including Digital Currency Group, Coinfund, Kenetic Capital, LD Capital, cFund, Borderless Capital, Wave Financial, and Backend Capital.
Angel investors who participated in this round include Litecoin’s founder Charlie Lee, Vinny Lingham, and Do Kwan. Additional investors included Newform Capital, Genesis Capital, OKEx/Dreamfund, ZB Group, Defi Capital, and Ripple.
Flare’s CEO, Hugo Philion, commented: “The investment announced today demonstrates a belief in Flare from key participants in the investment community, together with key exchanges, market makers, blockchain founders and entrepreneurs.
“This builds an even stronger and more connected community around Flare that can drive meaningful developments and participation. We are grateful for all investors’ support in helping bring the Flare Network to fruition.”
Flare Harnesses the Power of Unused Coins
It’s currently estimated that 75% of all digital assets lie outside of DeFi’s reach, and these cryptos represent a massive amount of untapped wealth.
Some of these assets, such as XRP, XLM, and Litecoin are tokens for systems that are not Turing complete, meaning that they cannot be used to run smart contracts or dApps, basic necessities for participating in DeFi. Flare opens the door to DeFi for these tokens by allowing users to create F-Assets, for example, XRP becomes FXRP, which can then be used in Flare’s smart contract ecosystem running on the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
Another subset of untapped wealth in crypto is the tokens that help support Proof of Stake consensus models. While Proof of Stake has many advantages over Proof of Work, this model ensures that a large number of tokens cannot be used for DeFi, as they are used as collateral for validating transactions instead.
Federated Byzantine Agreements for the Win
A validator cannot, at the same time, stake their tokens to secure the network as well as use those tokens for providing liquidity. The FBA model of consensus, which was first brought to prominence by Ripple and proven safe by Stellar, does not rely on the wealthiest members of a blockchain community to support security with their staked tokens, and this means those tokens can enter the DeFi ecosystem.
FBA has plenty of advantages that make it a desirable method for building consensus on Flare. Another drawback of Proof of Stake that FBA addresses is that DeFi could theoretically enrich members of the community to the point that decentralization is put at risk. It seems like there are tons of problems Proof of Stake models will have to deal with, and Flare sidesteps them entirely.
FBA makes consensus possible in an extremely decentralized way. As the benefits of decentralization continue to manifest with each passing day, maintaining DeFi as a decentralized financial system is a paramount concern. It’s no wonder Flare has drawn .3M in support from big names responsible for shaping DeFi and crypto’s future.