Flow
FLOW

Important Details AboutFlow (FLOW)

Flow Charts

  • Zoom
  • Hour
  • Day
  • Week
  • Month
  • Year
  • All Time
  • Type
  • Line Chart
  • Candlestick

Flow is a fast, developer-friendly blockchain built for games, NFTs, and apps.

Explore its growing use cases—just share your contact to get a detailed breakdown.

Similar Coins

Flow
FLOW
$ 0.278213 0.25%

Market cap

$ 450,742,628

Volume (24h)

$ 12,458,460

Total supply

1,620,466,124 FLOW

Max. supply

Circulating supply

1,620,466,124 FLOW

FLOW to USD converter

FLOW

Flow Markets

Flow Markets
#SourcePairVolumePriceChangeUpdated

Flow History

* Currency in USD
Historical Price for Flow
DateOpenCloseHighLowVolume

What is Flow (FLOW), and how does it work?

Flow (FLOW) is a decentralized blockchain platform designed specifically to support next-generation games, apps, and digital assets at scale. Developed by Dapper Labs—the creators of CryptoKitties—Flow addresses the scalability and usability challenges that have hindered many earlier blockchains from supporting mainstream consumer applications. It combines a unique multi-node architecture, developer-friendly tools, and an intuitive user experience to power fast, low-cost, and developer-centric decentralized applications (dApps).

Flow is engineered to enable smooth and scalable digital experiences without compromising decentralization or security. Unlike traditional blockchains that process every transaction on every node, Flow divides these tasks across specialized node roles to increase throughput and efficiency. The network’s native cryptocurrency, FLOW, is used to pay for transaction fees, secure the network via staking, and participate in governance decisions.

Flow’s architecture makes it ideal for use cases such as blockchain games, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), collectible marketplaces, and interactive experiences. Its smart contract language, Cadence, is designed to be safe, intuitive, and powerful, simplifying the development of complex assets like NFTs and enabling a more seamless interaction for users.

Who founded Flow, and what is its mission?

Flow was developed by Dapper Labs, a blockchain company founded in 2018 by RohamGharegozlou, Dieter Shirley, and other experts with prior experience in blockchain gaming and collectibles. The team is best known for creating CryptoKitties, one of the first popular blockchain games that highlighted Ethereum’s scalability issues.

The mission of Flow is to build a blockchain that is accessible and scalable enough to support billions of users engaging with digital assets, games, and apps. By overcoming the limitations of first-generation blockchains, Flow aims to drive mass adoption of blockchain technology in entertainment, social media, and digital commerce. Dapper Labs envisions a future where digital ownership is seamless, secure, and integrated into everyday digital life.

Flow is focused on empowering developers with tools that reduce complexity, and on providing end-users with fast, enjoyable experiences free from the high fees and slow transactions typical of other platforms.

What makes Flow different from other blockchain or DeFi projects?

Flow stands out through its innovative architecture and focus on usability for both developers and consumers. Key differentiators include:

  • Multi-Role Architecture: Flow splits consensus and computation across four distinct node types (Consensus Nodes, Verification Nodes, Execution Nodes, and Collection Nodes), allowing parallel processing and greater scalability without sacrificing decentralization or security.
  • Developer-Centric Design: Flow’s smart contract language, Cadence, is resource-oriented and built for security and ease of use. It prevents common bugs found in Solidity and facilitates building complex assets like NFTs with composable components.
  • Consumer-Friendly UX: Flow integrates features such as human-readable account names, secure account recovery, and fast finality, making blockchain apps on Flow intuitive and accessible to users unfamiliar with crypto wallets.
  • Built for Digital Assets: Unlike generic blockchains, Flow is optimized specifically for NFTs, collectibles, and digital items, enabling rich interactivity, programmable ownership, and composability at scale.
  • Ecosystem and Partnerships: Flow has attracted high-profile partnerships with NBA Top Shot, Ubisoft, Warner Music Group, and others, highlighting its readiness for mainstream adoption in the entertainment and culture sectors.

This focus on scalability, security, and user experience positions Flow as a leading blockchain platform for Web3 applications beyond just finance.

What problems is Flow aiming to solve?

Flow addresses several critical challenges that have limited blockchain adoption:

  1. Scalability without Compromise: Traditional blockchains like Ethereum require every node to process all transactions, causing congestion and high fees. Flow’s architecture offloads tasks to specialized nodes, achieving higher throughput and lower costs.
  2. Developer Complexity: Many blockchain languages and platforms are difficult for developers to use, slowing innovation. Flow’s Cadence language is designed to be safe and developer-friendly, reducing errors and improving productivity.
  3. Poor User Experience: Many blockchains require complicated wallet setups and high gas fees, deterring mainstream users. Flow’s consumer-centric design simplifies account management and lowers friction for onboarding.
  4. NFT & Digital Asset Limitations: Early blockchains were not built to support rich digital asset ecosystems. Flow provides native support for composable NFTs and secure asset ownership, enabling new kinds of digital economies and games.
  5. Ecosystem Fragmentation: Flow’s single-chain design with interoperability plans allows developers to build complex applications with integrated marketplaces and cross-platform assets, creating a cohesive ecosystem.

By solving these, Flow aims to bring blockchain to mass-market entertainment and commerce.

What are the core features of the Flow ecosystem?

Flow offers a comprehensive toolkit designed to enable scalable and user-friendly blockchain applications:

  1. FLOW Token
    FLOW is the native utility token used for transaction fees, staking to secure the network, and governance participation. Token holders can delegate staking to validators and influence protocol upgrades.
  2. Multi-Node Architecture
    Four specialized node roles separate consensus, execution, verification, and data collection, boosting throughput while maintaining decentralization and security.
  3. Cadence Smart Contract Language
    A resource-oriented programming language designed for safety and ease of use, optimized for digital asset management, and capable of enforcing strict ownership rules.
  4. User-Friendly Wallets & Accounts
    Flow supports human-readable account names, multi-device account recovery, and flexible authorization models, lowering barriers for end users.
  5. NFT & Digital Asset Support
    Flow enables programmable NFTs that can contain dynamic content, nested ownership, and composability, powering complex games and collectible ecosystems.
  6. Developer Tools & SDKs
    Comprehensive tools, documentation, and APIs allow developers to build, test, and deploy dApps with fast iteration cycles.

Ecosystem Partnerships
Collaboration with major brands and projects like NBA Top Shot, MotoGP Ignition, and Animoca Brands drives real-world adoption and ecosystem growth.

How is Flow built from a technical perspective?

Flow is constructed with a modular architecture that divides blockchain tasks across multiple specialized node types to optimize scalability and security:

  • Consensus Nodes order transactions and produce blocks using a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus model.
  • Verification Nodes re-execute and verify the correctness of blocks proposed by Consensus Nodes, ensuring security and correctness.
  • Execution Nodes perform transaction execution, running smart contracts and maintaining state changes without participating in consensus.
  • Collection Nodes index and serve blockchain data to external applications and users.

This separation allows Flow to parallelize workflows, reduce bottlenecks, and improve scalability while keeping the network decentralized. The system uses a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus protocol tailored for fast finality and resilience.

The Cadence smart contract language runs on a secure virtual machine with built-in resource management and asset safety. This design prevents bugs like double-spending and unauthorized access.

Flow also incorporates layer-2 scaling solutions and plans for cross-chain interoperability to further increase performance and ecosystem reach.

What makes Flow’s smart contracts different?

Flow’s smart contracts are written in Cadence, a resource-oriented programming language explicitly designed for digital assets. Key advantages include:

  • Resource Safety: Cadence treats digital assets as “resources” that cannot be copied or lost, mimicking real-world asset ownership and preventing bugs like duplication or theft.
  • Composability: Developers can create reusable, modular components for NFTs and other assets, enabling complex interactions and upgrades.
  • Improved Security: Cadence’s strong typing and formal verification-friendly design reduce common smart contract vulnerabilities seen in languages like Solidity.
  • User-Centric Authorization: Cadence supports flexible account authorization models, enabling multi-signature wallets, delegated transactions, and account recovery.
  • Upgradeable Contracts: Flow supports contract upgrades while maintaining state, allowing protocols to evolve without forcing users to migrate assets.

Together, these features make Flow ideal for rich, interactive digital assets applications like games and collectibles.

How does Flow achieve scalability?

Flow’s multi-node architecture is its primary scaling innovation. By assigning different tasks to specialized nodes, the network can process many transactions simultaneously:

  • Parallel Processing: Execution Nodes handle transactions independently of consensus, allowing many computations to run concurrently.
  • Specialization: Each node type optimizes a specific function, reducing the workload and bottlenecks found in monolithic blockchains.
  • Fast Finality: Consensus Nodes use a Byzantine Fault Tolerant PoS mechanism enabling near-instant finality with strong security guarantees.
  • Low Fees: Efficient processing reduces gas costs, making it feasible to support high-volume applications like games and marketplaces.
  • Layer-2 Compatibility: Flow plans support rollups and other layer-2 solutions to further increase throughput.

This architecture ensures Flow can support applications with millions of users and hundreds of thousands of daily transactions.

What is the consensus mechanism used by Flow?

Flow uses a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus with a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) mechanism. Token holders stake FLOW tokens and elect validators who operate the Consensus, Verification, Execution, and Collection nodes.

This consensus model balances decentralization, security, and performance by:

  • Enabling fast block production with finality in seconds.
  • Allowing token holders to vote out malicious or underperforming validators.
  • Reducing energy consumption compared to proof-of-work systems.
  • Providing strong security guarantees against Sybil and Byzantine attacks.

Validators earn rewards from transaction fees and inflationary token emissions, incentivizing honest participation.

What is the FLOW token used for?

FLOW is the native token of the Flow network and underpins all economic activity on the blockchain. Its utility includes:

  • Staking and Security: FLOW holders can stake their tokens or delegate them to node operators, helping to secure the network while earning staking rewards.
  • Transaction Fees: All operations on the Flow blockchain require FLOW for gas fees, including NFT minting, asset transfers, and smart contract executions.
  • Collateral for Stable Assets: FLOW can be used as collateral for third-party stablecoins or wrapped assets in the Flow ecosystem.
  • Governance Participation: Future upgrades will introduce on-chain governance, enabling token holders to vote on protocol changes, system parameters, and treasury use.
  • Developer Payments: Developers may require FLOW tokens to deploy contracts, run dApps, or bootstrap projects in the ecosystem.

This combination of utility, governance, and staking ensures that FLOW is tightly integrated into both the economic and security layers of the network.

Is Flow built to support large-scale applications like games or social networks?

Yes. Flow is specifically designed for high-throughput environments such as games, digital collectibles, and social applications. Its architecture—dividing the roles of nodes into Collection, Consensus, Execution, and Verification—eliminates performance bottlenecks common on traditional blockchains. This enables Flow to process millions of transactions per second without compromising decentralization or composability.

What is Cadence, and how does it differ from Solidity?

Cadence is Flow’s purpose-built smart contract language, designed with a focus on safety, clarity, and ease of use. Unlike Solidity, which is used on Ethereum and is dynamically typed, Cadence employs a resource-oriented programming model and strong static typing.

Key differences include:

  • Resource-Oriented Programming: Cadence introduces the concept of resources, which represent digital assets that cannot be copied or accidentally lost, aligning well with NFTs and other unique digital items.
  • Capability-Based Security: Access to resources is controlled through capabilities, providing fine-grained access control mechanisms.
  • Strong Static Typing: Enhances code reliability by catching errors at compile-time rather than at runtime.
  • User-Friendly Syntax: Inspired by modern languages like Swift and Rust, making it more approachable for developers.

These features make Cadence particularly suitable for applications involving digital ownership and complex asset management.

How does Flow handle upgrades and smart contract versioning?

Flow introduces a unique approach to smart contract upgrades that balances immutability with developer flexibility. When a smart contract is first deployed to Flow’s mainnet, it can be marked as “incomplete”. During this phase, the contract’s author (the account that deployed it) retains the ability to update and redeploy it.

Once the developer is satisfied, they can finalize the contract, at which point it becomes immutable and cannot be changed. This model allows for:

  • Secure Iteration: Developers can test and improve their code while still in production.
  • Community Transparency: Users can see whether a contract is still mutable, helping them make informed decisions.
  • Accountability: Any upgrade is visible on-chain and subject to community scrutiny.

This approach reduces the risks associated with deploying permanent bugs while maintaining the long-term benefits of blockchain immutability.

How does Flow’s storage model differ from Ethereum?

Flow introduces a unique and developer-friendly storage model that improves data organisation, safety, and efficiency. Unlike Ethereum, which uses a flat key-value store and requires careful management of storage costs, Flow structures data into three main layers:

  1. Storage (Persistent Layer) – Each user account has its own storage with up to 10MB of space by default, extendable by staking FLOW tokens.
  2. Capabilities – Fine-grained access control mechanisms that expose certain parts of the storage to smart contracts or other users.
  3. Paths and Domains – Data is organized via a structured path system (/storage/, /public/, /private/), enabling modular and secure interaction between contracts and user accounts.

This model ensures:

  • Better modularity – Developers can manage multiple resources (e.g., NFTs, tokens) with minimal risk of name collisions or accidental overwrites.
  • Granular permissions – Flow accounts can give selective access to other accounts or contracts via capabilities, instead of exposing raw data.
  • Enhanced safety – Cadence enforces strict typing and ownership rules to prevent bugs like dangling references or double spends.

Flow’s storage architecture is one of its strongest advantages for complex dApps and games.

How does Flow handle transaction fees compared to other blockchains?

Flow uses a two-tiered gas model: a computation fee and a storage fee. This model creates a more predictable and fair fee structure compared to Ethereum’s dynamic gas pricing. Developers and users benefit from:

  • Stable fees – Flow avoids congestion-driven spikes, thanks to its pipelined architecture that decouples consensus from execution.
  • Prepaid storage – Users must deposit FLOW tokens to store data, and fees scale with usage.
  • Fee refunds – If a transaction fails during execution, unused gas is refunded to the sender.

Additionally, because Flow allows multiple transactions per block and parallel processing, it achieves high throughput without sacrificing decentralization, keeping costs low and scalable—especially important for high-volume applications like games or marketplaces.

What makes Cadence a safer smart contract language?

Cadence is Flow’s resource-oriented smart contract language, built with security, clarity, and developer safety at its core. It introduces several innovative features:

  • Resource types – Assets like NFTs and tokens are treated as first-class “resources” that cannot be accidentally duplicated or lost.
  • Strict type system – Reduces runtime errors by enforcing compile-time checks.
  • Capability-based access control – Ensures only authorized users or contracts can access specific data or functions.
  • Clear syntax – Designed to be readable and expressive for both developers and auditors.

Cadence helps developers build secure and auditable applications, with tooling and documentation designed to prevent many of the bugs that have plagued Ethereum smart contracts.

Where Can I Follow Flow for Updates?

You can follow Flow’s latest updates and developments through several official channels that keep the community informed and engaged. The Flow team regularly shares news, technical updates, and ecosystem announcements on their official website at onflow.org, which serves as the primary source for comprehensive information. 

Their Twitter account (@flow_blockchain) is an excellent platform for real-time updates, partnerships, and community highlights. For deeper discussions, developer support, and connecting with other enthusiasts, the Flow Discord server offers an active and welcoming space. 

Additionally, Flow’s Medium blog publishes detailed articles and insights, while its YouTube channel provides educational content and event coverage. Developers can also explore Flow’s GitHub repository for the latest code releases and protocol updates. 

Staying connected through these channels ensures you are well-informed about network upgrades, new projects, and exciting opportunities within the Flow ecosystem.

Have questions about digital asset trends or blockchain innovation?

Contact Kenson Investments today to explore how emerging protocols like Flow align with your strategic interests.

Get In Touch