Flare: A Briefing

Published: July 7th, 2021
Author: Nicholas LoBue
 
 
There is well-deserved hype around the upcoming launch of the Flare Network. Flare is the network of inclusion and interoperability. It brings together the most efficient consensus algorithms and pairs them with the functionality of the Ethereum Virtual Machine. As we started our research into the Flare blog and white papers, ideas began to emerge.
 
 
One of the main issues we see with some modern day blockchains is the lack of ability to perform at scale. Proof of Work blockchains beget fees and energy consumption. Fees tend to increase as activity on the network expands. For example, on May 19th, 2021 the average transaction fee on the Ethereum Network topped out at $71.72 (Based on data from Ycharts). Spikes in fees could render the network itself useless for developers and users alike, for obvious reasons.
 
 
If we utilize the active addresses data provided by bitinfocharts we can see that the number of active addresses on the Ethereum blockchain topped out at 1.1146 million on May 9th, 2021. An active address is defined by any address on the blockchain that has sent or received a transaction on the given day. The current global population estimate of 7.8 Billion people bring us to a rough ratio of approximately %0.00158 active addresses to people on this earth. Let's put emphasis on the word "rough" since active addresses are not a 1:1 ratio of person to address. Still, we think this gets the point across. A relatively small amount of people are utilizing this blockchain, and we are already noticing limitations on scale.
 
 
Flare tackles scalability and security issues using a bottom up approach with a sound architecture. The architecture, at its lowest level, consists of nodes on the network running the Avalanche consensus protocol. The nodes are arranged to conform to FBA (Federated Byzantine Agreement) with emphasis on a UNL. FBA does not rely on economic incentives to secure the network and advance the ledger forward, contrary to PoW and PoS (Proof of stake). Avalanche consensus utilizes the DAG (Directed Acyclical Graph) data structure and finality of transactions takes mere seconds. Further info on Avalanche could be found here. A node's UNL is a list of trusted nodes on the network to rely on for consensus, reiterated in Definition 2.2 noted in the Flare Whitepaper.
 
 
What makes the Flare Network extremely useful is the fact that it builds the EVM right into the blockchain. This will allow any application that has previously been built on the Ethereum blockchain to be migrated over to Flare relatively easily. Decentralized applications will have the functionality of the EVM with a highly reduced rate in fees and scalability issues.
 
 
We are very excited to start building on the Flare main net and to architect the future at Aureus Ox. Thanks for taking the time to read!
 
 

Technical Resources

Avalanche Whitepaper
Flare Whitepaper
Ripple Consensus Protocol Whitepaper