There weren’t many standout tokens last year – holding anything other than stablecoins was likely to see you lose 80% in dollar value – but GMX was a notable exception. The native token of Arbitrum’s derivatives exchange, GMX is up 35% in 12 months, no mean feat when most other assets were hemorrhaging hard through 2022.
2023 looks like another testing year for the crypto market, but observers have already zeroed in on one token that’s being tipped as the next GMX. Its name? FLR. The native token of Flare’s interoperable blockchain network is finally dropping on January 9, and anticipation is mounting that FLR could shake up a stagnant market.
XRP Holders Get Their Day
It’s been over two years since a snapshot was taken of XRP balances with the goal of airdropping Flare’s native token to them when the network launched. XRP was originally identified by Flare as being the community that would benefit the most from its interoperable EVM chain.
The XRP ledger, like other blockchains of that era, has no smart contract capacity, which severely limits the use cases for its eponymous asset. Step forward Flare, whose team believe they’ve found a way to safely unlock assets on “legacy chains” such as Bitcoin, XRP, and Dogechain, freeing them to be used on Flare Network.
Airdrop It Like It’s Hot
So what can XRP holders and the crypto community at large expect on January 9 when FLR becomes tradable? Around 15% of FLR’s total supply will be issued to airdrop recipients on this date, with the remainder of their share vesting monthly over 36 months. XRP holders whose tokens were held on a centralized exchange at the time of the original snapshot will be able to claim their FLR tokens there.
Flare has published the full list of exchanges supporting the airdrop and it includes most of the major players such as Binance, OKX, and Huobi. It’s likely that many of these exchanges will also list the FLR token as opposed to simply letting users withdraw their balance.
Can Flare Reignite Crypto?
There aren’t many events to get the crypto community excited at the dawn of a new year; it’s a time when nothing more dangerous than testnets is typically shipped. The launch of Flare’s native token, then, should bring some cheer to airdrop recipients and give dormant traders a reason to awaken from their slumber and put their stablecoins to good use.
Hopes are high that Flare’s interoperability solution will introduce a safer way to transfer value between chains. With $2 billion lost to bridge exploits last year alone, it can’t come soon enough for DeFi users.
“If information is revealed to be incorrect after transactions have been validated and assets have subsequently been reallocated to more established chains, the risk is introduced to the entire system,” explains Flare CEO Hugo Philion. The industry will be watching closely to see whether Flare can improve on these shortcomings to deliver a secure system for cross-chain transfers.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
