Autor: Andrzej Mackowiak 09.09.2023r.

Introduction

A few weeks ago, a storm broke out in the Polish community regarding the audit of the Flare Network conducted by a Polish startup (link in the references). As you might have guessed, the audit results were not very positive. However, this was not due to the limited potential of the Flare Network, but rather to the authors of the audit’s lack of understanding of the project’s assumptions. The entire audit situation and the debate that followed in the Polish community clearly shows how little this project is understood by the wider crypto community.

Despite the fact that our community is constantly provided with information about the project through the communication channels of our Focus TSO team, such as Telegram, Twitter, YouTube, and, recently, blog articles, the vision of the project and what the creators of the Flare Network want to build may not be easy for everyone to understand. This is especially true for those who do not want to understand or new crypto investors who are just starting out.

Several years of observing human behavior in the crypto world have led me to believe that, ultimately, during a bull market, people will be attracted by the rising price of a given asset, not the superior technology behind the project or its real usability. Therefore, the question arises whether a project with such revolutionary goals as Flare Network should focus its messaging on that group of investors? Or should the team focus on building and attracting developers, whose work will make the project more recognizable to the retail market in due time anyway?

The answer to this question is difficult, especially when we see a flood of projects that reach sky-high valuations without bringing about any technological change. On the one hand, it is clear that it is worth taking care to ensure that the project is well understood by a wider community. This way, you can increase its potential and chances of success. On the other hand, it is also important not to focus on what is popular. It is more important to strive to achieve the goals of the project, especially if it aims to solve a real problem. Once these goals are met, investor capital will naturally find its place, increasing the value of the project.

The Flare project did not fit neatly into the rigid frameworks of the audit mentioned earlier. In fact, the scale of the project was difficult to measure with the universal tool proposed by the auditor. While the allegation of lack of up-to-date information about tokenomics could have been justified, on the other hand, does the extensive and carefully prepared technical documentation not compensate for this?

The project is currently targeting the developer community. Their task is to build new utilities using the protocols provided by the Flare team. After all, if we want to invest, we should pay more attention to the project’s development. This is what the detailed and solid documentation enables developers to do more easily. Thanks to it, the project attracts new projects that undoubtedly add value to the entire ecosystem. This can give the impression that the retail market is not currently a priority target for the Flare team.

Despite the fact that it is 2023, from the perspective of a retail investor, projects should not be analyzed based on the appearance of the website, the availability of the roadmap or the whitepaper. After all, that’s how analyses looked in 2018, when the message and “marketing” were strictly aimed at retail investors. In those years, projects sold promises, and one could even dare say that they sold dreams that were rarely fulfilled.

The Flare Network’s approach is different. Looking at what we see so far, it must be admitted that its team is actually fulfilling its promises. Of course, one could have complaints that it is all taking too long. However, is it easy to implement the concept that they have set for themselves? Is the small steps approach that the team is using not the right one? Can we perceive caution in bringing products to market for security reasons and conducting additional legal analyses in fear of regulators as a negative?

So maybe everyone can answer the question for themselves based on their own experience.

The Flare Network project is setting new standards for both current Oracle systems and the way interoperability between blockchains works, by introducing full decentralization and eliminating the need for trust in the other party. All this in a safe, fast, and cheap way.

We at the FocusTSO team have been following the Flare Network project since the first information about it appeared in mid-2020. Since then, a lot has changed in the project, including:

• The original concept has evolved significantly. A Canary Network was added without prior announcement, where developers can test their new products in the real market.

• The token distribution method was changed to be more decentralized, so that they have a chance to reach a wider community, not just the XRP community. This change also allowed for independence from centralized exchanges, which often succumb to the temptation of manipulation. (I will remind you of the lessons from the SGB distribution, where some exchanges did not distribute tokens to the community.)

• The idea of giving EVM smart contract functionality to tokens that do not have it (XRP, BTC, LTC, or DOGE) has been transformed into something much larger: full crypto interoperability that does not require trust of the other party, is safe, fast, and cheap.

The Flare team’s approach to building the network is completely different from other projects on the market:

• The project did not finance the development of the network through the sale of tokens. In fact, the network was already functional at the time of the token distribution.

• Thanks to the unique approach to the distribution of the $FLR token, the project has avoided being held hostage by centralized exchanges. This is because un-wrapped tokens do not participate in the snapshot for the next monthly airdrop.

Perhaps due to the team’s different approach, some people find it difficult to understand the concept that Flare presents. It is undoubtedly necessary to have such an understanding in order to conduct a fair and reliable analysis or audit of this project, taking into account the future use cases of the implemented protocols or possible changes in tokenomics.

What do we have on the Flare Network today?

Flare Time Series Oracle

After months of testing on its canary network, the Flare Network launched with its Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO) protocol, which is a native oracle for time-series data, such as asset prices. This protocol provides highly accurate and decentralized data to applications on the Flare network. The data delivery process is not controlled by a single entity, but by a group of independent Signal Providers, who collect data from various sources, such as decentralized or centralized exchanges.