What are the current limitations in the availability and variety of decentralised data, and how does Flare address these issues?
Public blockchains are designed to securely track their own data and value, requiring consensus among validating nodes for transactions. However, most global data exists outside of blockchains, creating challenges in providing decentralised, reliable access to this data. Oracles are commonly used to deliver external data to blockchains, although third-party blockchain oracles often struggle with high costs, slow speeds, low scalability, and lack of decentralisation when relaying data.
Flare’s enshrined data protocols address these issues by providing developers with decentralised, scalable, and cost-effective access to data from other blockchains and the internet. Flare’s competing independent validator set is responsible for validating transactions and providing decentralised data to the network, earning rewards for accurate contributions.
How do Flare’s FAssets and the Flare Data Connector enable trustless bridging and cross-network composability?
The FAssets application relies on Flare’s native oracles to bridge non-smart contract tokens like Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and XRP to Flare. It is designed to function entirely without a trusted centralized entity, rendering it ‘trustless’. To bridge BTC to Flare using the FAssets system, a user first selects an agent to reserve collateral on the Flare chain, ensuring they will receive the value of their BTC if anything goes wrong. Once the agent reserves the collateral for the user, the user can send their BTC to the agent, and the Flare Data Connector (FDC) is then used to verify the BTC transaction is completed. Once confirmed, this triggers the minting of FBTC to the user’s address on Flare, via the FAssets smart contract.
The FDC proves the state of external chains to Flare in a decentralised way and supports the cross-network interoperability functionality offered by the over-collateralized FAssets system.
How does Flare’s compatibility with web2 APIs enhance the use of web2 data in web3, and what impact could this have on blockchain adoption?
Currently, decentralised applications are constrained to using limited web2 data due to the complexities and costs of providing non-blockchain-based data. Some applications can pull data from specific APIs for social account verification, sports results, or traditional financial data, but often rely on centralised sources. Flare’s Time Series Oracle (FTSO) and Flare Data Connector (FDC) leverage a decentralized validator set to provide data in a secure and trustless manner. The FTSO delivers time series data, while the FDC can reach consensus on external event data, such as sports results or tweets. This integration of traditional and event-based data feeds opens up a range of possible new use cases, helping to overcome barriers to blockchain adoption by supporting the launch of more complex applications, including social, gaming, RWA and other onchain financial structured products.
How have Flare’s initiatives positioned it as a key contributor to the growth of DeFi?
Flare’s upgraded FTSO provides decentralised time series data feeds every 1-2 seconds, increasing both the frequency and number of available feeds up to 1000. Flare aims to build a full-stack solution for developers, allowing the creation of feature-rich applications that can leverage a wide range of data, crucial for blockchain adoption beyond the currently limited financial use cases.
The trustless, overcollateralized FAssets bridging system enables the secure usage of major tokens like Bitcoin, XRP and Dogecoin on Flare, which is set to attract fresh liquidity and contribute to the the development of new decentralised applications. In the smart contract realm, Flare’s partnerships with LayerZero and Stargate provide additional secure bridging opportunities for FAssets and enable the flow of assets including USDT, USDC, and ETH to Flare.
The recent Emissions program, approved by the Flare community, has helped attract new liquidity to the chain, offering opportunities for the broader blockchain industry to participate in Flare’s DeFi infrastructure. This includes token-trading platforms, borrowing and lending protocols, and staking for FLR holders, all contributing to a more comprehensive full-stack blockchain solution.