Tokenomics of the FLOW token | The fuel that powers Flow.

Last updated: Nov. 16, 2023

Introduction to FLOW Token

Flow is a proof of stake layer 1 blockchain and the FLOW token (symbol: FLOW) is the native token of the chain. The token serves as a means of rewarding the staked participants of the network, as a medium of exchange within the Flow ecosystem, and to cover the transaction fee and storage fees within the network. See Flow Primer for more information on how the Flow network works, and FLOW Token page↗ for an overview of Flow’s native token, FLOW.

FLOW Utility

FLOW token serves multiple critical functions on the Flow network.

Currently, FLOW is used for the following functions on the Flow network:

Staking: Token required for validators and delegators to participate in the network. See section on Staking Requirements

Rewards: tokens used to reward validators and delegators for their service to the network. See section on Rewards

Fees: token used for transaction fees. All transactions such as deployment of new smart contracts, creation of user accounts, token transfer, and NFT exchange require the payer to pay transaction fees in FLOW. See section on Transaction Fees

Storage deposits: Token required as a minimum balance to reserve on-chain storage. See section on Storage Fees

Medium of Exchange: One of the tokens that enable users to participate in (and transact with) experiences built on Flow

Collateral: Token used as a collateral on DeFi apps (such as Increment.fi)
‍Governance: Principal token for voting on future protocol and ecosystem development

FLOW Token Supply

The genesis block was created in October 2020, with 1.25 billion FLOW. For transparency, the breakdown of genesis block holders is outlined below.

Stakeholder	% of supply allocated	Actual # tokens allocated
Ecosystem Fund	32%	400,200,000 FLOW
Pre launch backers + community sale	30%	374,800,000 FLOW
Dapper Labs	20%	250,000,000 FLOW
Development Team	18%	225,000,000 FLOW
Total	100%	1,250,000,000 FLOW

Ecosystem Development : 400M+ FLOW tokens were set aside for ecosystem development to help bootstrap network effects and ensure a diverse and accessible community over the long term. Ecosystem Development Fund is managed by the Flow Foundation and rewards the efforts of a decentralized Flow community building sustainable value. Ecosystem development programs include grants to developers/ entrepreneurs building value on Flow, as well as token leases to node validators securing the network.

Dapper Labs: As the corporate entity that funded the development of the Flow technology, Dapper Labs was allocated 250 million tokens.

Development Team: FLOW tokens allocated to the development team pool and reward the early builders of the Flow infrastructure; these were unlocked over 3 years (from the genesis blocks) and will be fully unlocked in October 2023.

Network Usage

Node Economics

For an overview on Flow Nodes, Node roles and their functioning, see Node Operations↗.

To ensure that validators on Flow have an economic incentive to act in the best interest of the network, operators are required to stake (or ‘deposit’) a minimum financial security comprising FLOW tokens for a protocol-defined lock-in period (usually an epoch). This deposit ensures that operators have committed stake in the network via the classic proof-of-stake framework, and therefore the necessary incentives to facilitate node operations with integrity. Read more about staking.

Each node type on Flow provides a distinct aspect of network security against Byzantine behavior such as halting, falting, beacon break and state corruption attacks. To ensure Flow blockchain is secure under standard Byzantine assumptions (up to a third of each node type could potentially be malicious without affecting network security), optimal staking ratios have been derived for each node type to maximize the cost of attack. Based on this, the minimum stakes were defined for each node role, as stated below.

Node role	Minimum Stake	Maximum Stake
Collection Node	250,000 FLOW	No limit
Consensus Node	500,000 FLOW	No limit
Execution Node	1,250,000 FLOW	No limit
Verification Node	135,000 FLOW	No limit
Access Node	100 FLOW	No limit
Archive Node	0 FLOW (not staked)	N/A
Light Node	0 FLOW (not staked)	N/A

When a node behaves per the publicly stated rules of the network, it is rewarded with FLOW tokens every epoch. In case of a default however, the node risks partially or wholly losing the stake (see slashing), driving operators towards the right behavior, and thus greater network security. Note that today, there is no maximum stake limit for any of the node types, but if a node operator does not meet the minimum stake, they will not be included in the next epoch and will not receive any rewards.

Important Links

Flow Primer: why we created Flow – and what makes it different

Technical Papers: deep dive into the unique Flow architecture

Flow Tokenomics

Introduction to FLOW Token

FLOW Utility

FLOW Token Supply

The Genesis Block

Total Supply Now

Circulating Supply

Network Usage

Background

Storage Fees

Transaction Fees

Node Economics

Staking Requirements

Delegation

Rewards

APY

Inflation

Important Links

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