What is Flow Blockchain?
Last updated
Last updated
Beginning with Bitcoin in 2009, blockchains are decentralized networks that have forever changed how people organize capital, data, and assets. Whereas the early and current forms of the web were about distributing content from centralized stores to users, blockchains are enabling what’s called the Web3.
Web3 is kicking off a paradigm shift wherein user-generated content is distributed to other users via user-owned platforms. So, instead of Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram owning content distribution networks, users own the rails themselves across highly efficient composable peer-to-peer networks.
In the context of Web3, content is loosely defined as any transmissible form of data. Whether that data is money, in-game items, profile pictures, or supply chain information makes no difference to the neutral user-owned network.
Now, what does all this Web3 talk have to do with Flow blockchain? Flow is a blockchain built specifically for Web3 assets and apps like NFTs, crypto games, and DAOs. In short, Flow believes blockchains are the backbone of the digital economy and is providing the toolset for developers to build it.
Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, and other popular blockchains fit a similar description. In fact, most of the burgeoning NFT scene is built on Ethereum. So, what makes Flow blockchain different from Ethereum?
Fast, proof of stake-powered consensus without sharding
Near-instant finality without compromising decentralization
Highly scalable for massive gaming yet inexpensive to use
Upgradable smart contracts written in robust Cadence code
Uses recoverable Smart Accounts instead of keys & seeds
The history of Flow blockchain coincidentally begins on Ethereum. Back in 2017, Dapper Labs created CryptoKitties, the world’s first widely adopted blockchain game.
CryptoKitties centers around collecting and breeding digital cats. At the time of its release on Ethereum, CryptoKitties became so popular that it essentially took the Ethereum network down. Because of the sheer volume of CryptoKitties-related activity, Ethereum transactions slowed to nearly a halt, taking days and exorbitant gas fees to resolve.
The debacle led Dapper Labs developers to dream up their own ideal blockchain for crypto games and collectibles. It would need to be scalable to avoid Ethereum-like network congestion, and transactions would also need to be cheap — even under heavy usage.
Dapper Labs introduced Flow blockchain during an $18 million public sale on CoinList. Since then, the Flow blockchain ecosystem has grown to include NBA Top Shot, UFC, NFL, Samsung, Google, MotoGP, and Ubisoft partnerships.
What do all of those big names want to do on Flow blockchain? Why, create NFTs, of course! Creating NFTs on Flow is a simple thing to do — but more on that later.
