What is the Flow blockchain?

In late 2020, Dapper Labs launched Flow, a layer-1 blockchain that makes it simple for developers to create decentralized apps (dApps) for games, finance, and digital collectibles. One of Flow’s unique aspects is its ability to scale without the use of sharding, allowing for quick and affordable transactions. Flow also presents itself as being extremely environmentally-friendly; which is important not only for being a sustainable blockchain, but also for mainstream adoption as users continue to be ecologically-conscious.

Numerous projects began building on the platform when CryptoKitties relocated to Flow, including NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, UFC Strike, and more. Other large and notable companies also partnered with Flow, such as Ticketmaster and Instagram. Ticketmaster has over 5 million NFTs minted for events, and Instagram has support for Flow-based NFTs to allow its users to show off and display them. Due to its scalability, Flow has been able to preserve decentralization without compromising on providing exceptional experiences.

What makes developers want to build on Flow?

In addition to the features that Flow has that allows it to be fast, secure, scalable, and eco-friendly, it also has strategic partnerships that differentiate it from other blockchains. NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day are two of Flow’s best-known projects. The NBA, NBA Players Association, and Dapper Labs collaborated to develop NBA Top Shot, a blockchain-based platform for virtual trading cards and digital collectibles. In the form of NFTs dubbed Moments, video highlights are assigned a special digital serial number to assure authenticity and denote rarity. Owners can participate in games, or hold the Moments to win IRL prizes. We have an article that explains NBA Top Shot in a bit more detail, coming soon.

NFL All Day, which focuses on American football and is comparable to NBA Top Shot, enables users to collect video highlights of plays as well. Both platforms also provide Challenges where users can enter to win rewards using their Moments.

Along with these two prominent brands and partners, Flow also has the support of the UFC, Animoca Brands, Dr. Seuss, Samsung, Ubisoft, Warner Music Group, and others. Additionally, in August 2020, Dapper Labs raised $12 million in a funding round that included NBA players Spencer Dinwiddie and Andre Iguodala.

Since its launch, Flow has amassed over 8,000 developers, 17 million wallet accounts, over 1,000+ active projects, 400+ network nodes, and over 2M wallets that are making transactions every month. Gaia is one marketplace living on the Flow ecosystem that contributes to these numbers, and these are impressive stats that continue to compound as more users get onboarded over time.

Gaia and Flow

The Flow blockchain is very capable and it made a ton of sense to build Gaia on the ecosystem. Flow is decentralized via its Proof of Stake consensus mechanism; it’s extremely feature-rich, secure, fast, and cheap to transact compared to other blockchains. It also has an abundance of users in terms of the large number of projects, and the sheer number of monthly active wallets. Our mission at NFTG (the parent company of Gaia’s) is to Bring The World Together Through Collectibles. To achieve this mission, we considered the accomplishments that Dapper Labs has done, onboarding millions of people onto Flow and the Web 3 space with initiatives like NBA Top Shot. Before Gaia, we launched BALLERZ, a 10,000 PFP project that sold out in November 2021, and even to this day continues to be one of the top projects on the Flow ecosystem. We look forward to seeing Gaia grow within the Flow ecosystem and beyond.

For more information on BALLERZ, check out our article here.

Conclusion

The Flow blockchain is the go-to ecosystem for building the future of the Internet (Web 3). Very few blockchains have the combination of features, partnerships, and user base that it has. After all, for the mass adoption of crypto and Web 3 technology, there needs to be efforts to bridge the gap between Web 2 and Web 3 audiences. It is because of the Dapper Labs team and their accomplishments with Flow that gives me the confidence to call it the Blockchain For The Masses. 

Explore the Gaia marketplace today and check out NBA Top Shot, BALLERZ, and more!