Unveiling Flare's 2024 Roadmap and Delving into the Partnership of Flare and GoogleCloud.
Key Notes: FTSO V2 and Machine Learning/AI.
Hello and happy New Year to everyone reading this. In the midst of all the activity from the recent announcement today, I want to kick off this year by putting together a roadmap that outlines what's in store for Flare in 2024. With a busy year ahead, now is a good time to absorb and understand everything coming our way before the chaos starts and we find ourselves struggling to keep up with the latest developments.
Quick Intro on Flare:
(For those familiar already, feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph.)
Let's start with a brief overview of Flare Networks. Flare positions itself as the "Blockchain For Data," emphasizing its commitment to efficient data provisioning—providing access to and delivering data to users and apps. With a focus on scalable data provisioning, Flare aims to decentralize the supply of time series data, prices, indices, blockchain state, and Web 2 data. Embracing the slogan "Data as A Public Good," Flare advocates for the seamless, trustless, secure, and cost-effective movement of high-quality data across various chains. Flare’s overall mission is to become the primary hub for decentralised data, to build dApps that make blockchain more useful, and addressing challenges that currently limit the industry's widespread adoption.
Core data acquisition protocols:
FTSO (Flare Time Series Oracle)
State Connector
Additional functionality in development by partners:
FAssets (non-smart contract bridging)
LayerCake (insured cross-chain bridging)
Relayer (cross-chain messaging)
GoogleCloud joins Flare Networks as an Infrastructure Provider:
Flare Network has previously emphasized the crucial support of institutional validators like Ankr, Restake, and Luganodes, endorsing Flare's vision for a fully decentralized data network. This not only instills confidence in Flare's evolution but also captures the attention of both new retail investors and additional institutional players.
The recent revelation from Flare Networks, introducing Google Cloud as a major Infrastructure Provider, represents a significant milestone, sparking interest in the market. Following this announcement, $FLR has surged by 30%, elevating its position to the impressive rank of 86 on CoinMarketCap—quite a leap from its previous standing beyond 100.
While this isn't a space for speculative price discussions, I'll briefly touch on my own thoughts since it is my blog. Some might question the sustainability of this surge — and while there may be some pushing and pulling, stepping back and considering Flare as a network in its entirety, along with what lies ahead in the coming months, suggests that this is just the beginning. Continue reading as I discuss what is to come.
Exploring Flare's Roadmap for 2024 with insights from CEO Hugo Philion:
Hugo has been hinting some very exciting news over the last few months. Based on the latest interviews with him, here are the key highlights:
The objective in 2024 is to roll out all protocols, including FAssets, Layer Cake, FTSO V2, State/Web Connector, and Relayer. The anticipated launch for all protocols is expected in the early second half of 2024, with FTSO V2 taking precedence.
Flare is expanding as a DeFi blockchain with FTSO V2 set to introduce features such as stock prices, other cryptocurrency prices (Bitcoin ETFs trading differently from the underlying asset), weather prices, and the introduction of perpetual DEXs on Flare. Additionally, there is potential for synthetic stocks and more.
FTSO V2 is set to introduce notable enhancements, including 90-second updates and the capacity to accommodate up to 1000 data series with one-block updates. Notably, it will feature a "Fast Updates" functionality, allowing any user or dApp to offer bounties to incentivize FTSO data providers for specific updates. For more information on FTSO V2, you can find the link here.
Hugo shares that the team began working on FTSO V2 in 2023, expressing confidence that Flare will house an unparalleled, faster, and most decentralized oracle. This development establishes Flare as a DeFi playground, facilitating a substantial expansion of available price data for decentralized finance applications.
Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence has been frequently mentioned by Hugo, like a broken record. Jokes aside, given that the team has a deep background in machine learning, it comes as no surprise that there is a strong emphasis on this topic.
When we think deeper about the intersection of ML/AI and blockchain, what unfolds? Flare doesn't just operate as a data network or cater to the crypto ecosystem; it plays a dual role. On one hand, it serves as the network for data, encompassing the entire crypto landscape. Beyond this, it goes a step further by functioning as the essential groundwork for machine learning. So, in essence, Flare is both the data hub for crypto and the foundational layer that supports machine learning processes.
In a recent discussion, Hugo shared his excitement about what intrigues him most in 2024: new use cases involving ML/AI with blockchain. In more technical terms, Hugo highlighted the FTSO as embodying the concept of an ML/AI model. This concept revolves around an ‘ensemble ML model’, where participants, specifically the FTSO data providers running off-chain models, employ diverse ML approaches to determine the prices they submit. The entire process is influenced by user delegations and, down the line, user stake, resulting in a collective model that encapsulates the overall dynamics of prices.
Ending with a quote from Hugo:
“I think that the entire structure of how the FTSO has been built can be replicated for any number of different AI models."
I’ll leave you here to contemplate what this all means, as I refine my own ideas. I’m excited to see how this all unfolds. Don't miss out on the latest insights by subscribing to my Substack for a front-row seat and be sure to follow my train of thought on X. Until next time!
Have a great day Flare fam ☀️