Flare Network’s long awaited airdrop goes live- Ripple’s XRP holders benefit

• Layer 1 EVM-compatible oracle network Flare Network completes its first token distribution event. 
• The event is a significant milestone for the network which has suffered a more than two-year delay due to Ripple’s legal troubles.  

Flare Network, a layer 1 Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible oracle network blockchain, has completed its long-awaited airdrop for holders of Ripple’s XRP token.

Flare Network revealed in a press release that the Jan. 9 airdrop saw a total of 4.279 billion Flare (FLR) tokens distributed. The airdrop is one of the largest scale distributions in crypto history, the release noted.

The distribution was carried out simultaneously for millions of users on exchanges including Binance, OKX, Kraken, Bithumb, UpBit, KuCoin, BitBank, and more. The token distribution represents the first 15% of the full public token distribution. The method of allocation of the remaining 85% of token supply will depend on the community.

Flare Token Distribution Event https://t.co/3GkF2dbGBY

— Flare ☀️ (@FlareNetworks) January 9, 2023

The airdrop is a significant milestone for Flare. This is because it allows developers to start to take advantage of Flare’s EVM and native data acquisition protocols. Developers can also now access Flare’s State Connector and Flare’s Time Series Oracle, the release notes.

“For the blockchain industry to flourish, we need more useful decentralized applications. Flare is tackling this through data, not just prices but transaction details, Web2 events etc, so that developers can build applications that provide more utility to a larger group of users,” Hugo Philion, CEO and co-founder of Flare, said.

He added that Flare’s objective is to enable developers to build applications that securely access more data. The network’s cases include facilitating a new way of bridging non-smart contract tokens for use in DeFi protocols. It can also be used to build Flare smart contracts that are triggered by payments on another chain or without input from a web2 API.

Will FLR distribution boost XRP price?

Flare Network has a long history with Ripple’s XRP Ledger blockchain network. When the project started, its narrative was to provide XRP Ledger with access to the booming decentralized finance (DeFi) industry.

The FLR token airdrop was also scheduled to take place back in December 2020 but was disrupted by the SEC’s case against Ripple. At the time, Flare had already taken a snapshot of XRP holders that would receive the airdrop. The plan, which has now been executed, was to airdrop 1.0073 FLR for every 1 XRP token held.

Meanwhile, the more than two years delay of the project has come with significant changes in its roadmap. Ripple has since started developing its own Ethereum bridge. XRP Ledger now also has decentralized exchanges DEXs and an NFT standard.

To adapt to the changes, Flare Network has broadened its scope. The network is now aiming to provide smart contract capabilities for any blockchains without them. Meanwhile, the launch of the network could trigger a price surge for XRP as it will broaden XRP Ledger’s DeFi ecosystem.