Flare was initially designed to only cater for only a single community. As the team continued to build out its core protocols, the scope of the project expanded substantially, with an ambitious goal of building a network that would allow data to be obtained from any blockchain, as well as the open internet. This would allow many more communities to benefit from the features and capabilities that it brought.
It was announced that on 12-Dec-2020 certain XRP token holders would be eligible to register for a token airdrop, once the network launched.
Airdrops, within the crypto space are a common method of distributing tokens to users. They are often seen as a useful way of transferring ownership and responsibilities from a core team to its community.
Read on to learn more about the token distribution and how it evolved to include more than just the XRP community.
The native token of the Flare network is also called Flare and has a ticker symbol of $FLR. At the genesis block, in July-2022, a total of 100b $FLR tokens were minted. The table below summarises the allocation of these 100b $FLR. Not all of these tokens were released initially, with many of them subject to vesting periods.
Out of the 100b $FLR tokens minted, 28.52b would be distributed to users, via the airdrop. This equated to 1.0073 $FLR tokens being received for every qualifying $XRP, from the snapshot.
This approach was to be split into two phases, with 15% of the tokens distributed in a single drop and the rest spread monthly over the subsequent 36 months. The initial drop of 15% was named the Token Distribution Event (TDE).
"TDE took place on 9-Jan-2023, with 4,278,738,205 $FLR tokens being distributed to all eligible participants."
On 18-Jan-2023 a new governance proposal (FIP.01) was put forward by the Flare Foundation that, if voted in favour of by the community, would change the distribution dynamics.
The initial 15% drop (4.28b tokens), to eligible XRP holders, would not change. What would change significantly is the distribution of the remaining 85% (24.25b tokens).
This 85% would no longer be sent automatically to previously eligible XRP holders. Instead it would be distributed in 36 monthly instalments, proportionally to any $FLR token holder who was wrapped their tokens into $WFLR. These 36 monthly distribution events are called the FlareDrop.
The proposal was accepted on 27-Jan-2023, with 93.78% voting in favour.
To be eligible for a monthly FlareDrop, a wallet must have held $WFLR for the 23 days before each claim day to be eligible to claim a portion of that month’s FlareDrop.
Three random blocks are chosen during those 23 days to calculate the average holdings of all wallets.
The number of tokens that a wallet can claim in any month is based on its relative share of all $WFLR in circulation.
No Flare related entity, employee or founder may use their token allocation to claim a portion of the FlareDrops.
"The FlareDrop, is a distribution method for the 24.25B remaining $FLR tokens after the initial airdrop. It will last for 36 months and is destined for any holder of wrapped $FLR ($WFLR) that participates in the network."
Tokens are claimable at 12:00 UTC every 30 days starting on 17-Mar 2023.
67 days after each distribution, any unclaimed tokens will be burned. This is 90 days from the start of the holdings calculation period.
There will be 35 distributions of 676,040,637 $FLR and one final distribution of 584,760,871 $FLR in month 36.
FlareDrops can be easily claimed via the Flare Portal, by connecting a wallet that held $WFLR during the calculation period.
There is also the option to set up autoclaiming, which will ensure FlareDrop tokens are automatically and immediately claimed in return for a fee. This can help maximise compounding and save time, and avoid unnecessary exposure of a cold wallet.
Advanced users can also claim by interacting directly with the smart contracts.
Before the acceptance of FIP.01, annual inflation on Flare was set at 10% of the fully diluted supply of $FLR.
FIP.01 also brought a change to the way inflation is calculated on Flare. There are three key changes relating to inflation in this proposal.