Flare
Time factors
| Protocol time | Human readable time | |
|---|---|---|
Protocol time 1 | Block | 3 seconds |
Protocol time 2 | Epoch | 3.5 days |
First reward delay | 1 epoch | 3.5 days |
Reward frequency | Every epoch | 3.5 days |
Unbonding period | None |
Block times are not fixed.
Epochs begin every Monday 7:00:00 UTC and Thursday 19:00:00 UTC.
Vote-power block. The protocol randomly chooses one block from the last 50% of blocks in an epoch. A snapshot of all stake is taken from that chosen block and is used to weight all validator operations of the upcoming epoch. Rewards are also dependent on this snapshot.
For example, let’s assume Alice has decided to stake at epoch X, but the vote-power block snapshot has already been taken. In this scenario, Alice’s stake will become effective only from epoch X+2.
Lifecycle
Staked before vote-power block snapshot
Staked after vote-power block snapshot
Must know before staking
Minimum stake amount | ✅ | 50,000 FLR |
Partial stake changes | ✅ | |
Partial reward withdrawal | ✅ | |
Compounding | ❌ | |
Penalty | ❌ | |
Slashing | ❌ |
Rewards must be claimed. Rewards expire after 90 days and are burned.
Stakers must stake for a minimum of 2 weeks.
The protocol has a special account called an executor which can perform reward claims and staking actions on behalf of delegators. Executor accounts can be used to compound staking rewards.
Advanced topics
General
Flare Time Series Oracle (FTSO) system
The protocol’s main purpose is to provide on-chain data for developers to use.
Validators are required to participate as data providers for the FTSO system. They must report token prices every 3 minutes.
The prices reported by validators are weighted by stake and used to calculate a median.
Revoking delegations. Delegators can revoke their stake which take effect immediately. This is expected to be used only under extreme circumstances (i.e. attack from a validator).
Rewards
Rewards come from newly issued tokens.
Target inflation. The protocol targets a 10% inflation rate in year 1, 7% inflation rate in year 2 and 5% inflation from year 3 and onwards. The newly issued tokens are used to reward the validators operating the FTSO system.
Factors that impact realized rewards.
Price reporting. From the weighted median calculated from the FTSO, only validators who have reported within a 50% band of the median will get rewards. In other words, validators who reported a price that is below 25% of the median or above 25% of the median will not get any rewards.
Commissions.
Risks
The protocol does not have any penalties or slashing.
Validators
Total validator cap | ✅ | 100 |
Validator requirements | ✅ | 1,000,000 FLR |
All validators begin with a 20% commission fee that can be adjusted afterwards.
Validators can accept only 15 times their self-stake amount. They can have up to 200 million of stake.
Validators are required to participate as data providers for the FTSO system. They must report token prices every 3 minutes.
Resources
Flare documentation: https://docs.flare.network/
Flare explorer: https://flaremetrics.io/
Update notes
2023-10-06: Flare has made some changes to how staking functions with FIP.05 (https://proposals.flare.network/FIP/FIP_5.html).
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