What is Flow? A complete guide to the Flow blockchain
What you need to know about the Flow Blockchain that's helping to power some of the most popular apps, games, and digital assets.
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The live FLOW price is currently {{current_price}}, {{up_down_24h}} {{price_change_percentage_24h_in_currency}} in the last 24-hours. Flow's 24-hour trading volume is {{total_volume}}. Flow is currently {{market_cap_rank}} by market capitalization, which is calculated by multiplying the current price ({{current_price}}) with the circulating supply ({{circulating_supply}}). The market capitalization for Flow is {{market_cap}}. FLOW has a circulating supply of {{circulating_supply}} and a max supply of {{max_supply}}. To buy FLOW at the current rate, visit moonpay/buy/flow.
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Flow is a blockchain platform designed to support decentralized applications (dApps), upgradeable smart contracts, and digital assets. It was created by Dapper Labs, the team behind popular projects like CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot. FLOW aims to address some of the scalability and usability limitations of other blockchain networks by providing a more efficient and developer-friendly environment.
Flow also introduces a novel approach to smart contracts called "Cadence." Cadence is a resource-oriented programming language specifically designed for writing secure and predictable smart contracts. It emphasizes clarity and simplicity, making it easier for developers to write and reason about their code.
Flow allows for smart contract updatability, meaning that developers can make changes and updates to their smart contracts after they have been deployed. This flexibility is achieved by separating the contract code from the contract storage. This enables developers to create upgradeable smart contracts while maintaining the integrity of the blockchain's state, enhancing the platform's scalability and adaptability for evolving decentralized applications.
The platform focuses on improving user experience and adoption. It introduces the concept of "walletless onboarding," which allows developers to simplify user onboarding by abstracting away the initial barriers of entering into the Web3 space.
FLOW is the native currency that powers the Flow network, using a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism to secure the blockchain.
Flow aims to provide a scalable, user-centric, and developer-friendly blockchain platform that can support a wide range of dApps and digital assets. Its innovative design and focus on usability make it an attractive option for developers and users looking to participate in the blockchain ecosystem.
The FLOW token was launched in 2020 in an ICO that raised $19.5 million. The Flow price started at $0.1 per coin and quickly rose to around $10 by the end of the year. This was due to a number of factors, including the launch of the Flow mainnet, the growing popularity of blockchain games, and investment by major companies such as Andreessen Horowitz.
The Flow price continued to rise in 2021, reaching its highest price of all-time at $46.16 in April. This was driven by the continued growth of the Flow network, which saw the launch of a number of popular blockchain games, including NBA Top Shot and Zed Run.
However, the Flow token price began to decline in May following the collapse of the Terra ecosystem. The price of Flow continued to decline throughout the rest of 2021, ending the year at around $10.
The price of FLOW continued to decline in 2022, falling as low as $0.65 by the end of the year. This was due to the overall bearish sentiment in the crypto market, as well as the rise of similar projects.
2023 was more of the same for the Flow token, as it continued declining to its lowest price yet, dipping below $0.43 per coin in September.
The Flow blockchain employs a fundamental architectural principle called Separating of Consensus and Compute (SeCoC). This design approach distinguishes Flow from many other blockchain platforms and contributes to its scalability and efficiency.
In traditional blockchain networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum, the consensus mechanism and smart contract execution are tightly integrated. Every node on the network must execute all smart contracts and reach a consensus on the validity of transactions and their order. This process can limit the scalability of the network as it requires every node to perform the same computations, resulting in increased latency and reduced throughput.
Flow takes a different approach by separating the consensus layer from the computation layer. In this architecture, the consensus layer is responsible for reaching an agreement on the validity and order of transactions, while the computation layer handles smart contract execution and data processing.
By implementing the Separation of Consensus and Computation, Flow provides a more scalable, efficient, and flexible blockchain platform that can support high-volume applications while maintaining performance and usability.
Flow was created by Dapper Labs, the team behind popular projects like CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot.
Dapper Labs is led by Roham Gharegozlou, who serves as CEO.
Flow is used for a wide range of use cases, including digital asset issuance, decentralized finance (DeFi), gaming, and more. It also offers walletless onboarding to simplify the user experience for developers and users looking to participate in the Flow ecosystem.
FLOW is the native cryptocurrency of the Flow blockchain, and is used to pay for transaction fees on the platform. When users interact with decentralized applications (dApps) or execute a smart contract on the Flow network, they need to pay a certain amount of FLOW as a fee.
Flow's architectural design incorporates the Separation of Consensus and Computation (SeCoC), which plays a vital role in addressing the scalability limitations of traditional blockchain networks.
By separating the consensus layer from the computation layer, Flow achieves high scalability, efficiency, and flexibility. This separation enables parallel processing of transactions and allows nodes to specialize in either consensus or computation tasks, optimizing resources and improving overall network performance.
In addition to the architectural design, Flow introduces Cadence, a resource-oriented programming language specifically tailored for writing smart contracts. Cadence emphasizes clarity, simplicity, and correctness, making it easier for developers to create secure and predictable smart contracts. By prioritizing developer experience and reducing potential vulnerabilities, Cadence enhances the overall quality of Flow as a smart contract platform.
One notable aspect of Flow’s design is its native support for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs have gained widespread popularity in the digital art and collectibles space, and Flow's infrastructure seamlessly integrates NFT functionality. The platform enables the creation, ownership, and trading of NFTs, making it a desirable choice for artists, creators, and collectors looking to participate in the NFT ecosystem.
The Flow blockchain uses a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, so it does not support crypto mining. You can, however, earn staking rewards by delegating your FLOW tokens to a validator.
Below are the steps to stake FLOW:
The price of {{token_name}} is determined by factors such as supply and demand, market sentiment, regulatory developments, and the adoption of blockchain technology. Price fluctuations can also occur in response to large transfers of the asset in a short time period.
The all-time high of Flow (FLOW) is $46.16, which was reached on April 5, 2021.
The all-time low of Flow is $0.428, which was reached on September 2, 2023.
FLOW is an inflationary token, so there is no maximum limit to the number of tokens produced. Until now, over {{total_supply}} FLOW tokens have been created, of which about {{circulating_supply}} are in the current circulating supply.
You can buy Flow directly via MoonPay or through one of our many partner wallets, such as Trust Wallet and Exodus. ---MoonPay’s simple widget makes it easy to buy FLOW with a credit or debit card, bank transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more payment methods. You can also fund your wallet with euros, pounds, or dollars and use your MoonPay Balance to purchase crypto like Flow. With MoonPay Balance, you'll enjoy faster transactions, lower fees, and higher approval rates.