The Flow token is the native cryptocurrency of the Flow blockchain, which is designed to support scalable and decentralized applications, including games, collectibles, and other digital assets. The token serves several purposes within the Flow ecosystem, including as a means of payment for transaction fees, staking rewards for validators, collateral for secondary tokens, and as a form of on-chain governance.

One of the key features of the Flow token is its ability to support complex smart contracts and applications that require high throughput and low latency. To achieve this, the Flow network uses a unique architecture that separates computation and storage into separate layers, allowing for more efficient processing and improved performance.

In addition to its technical capabilities, the Flow token is designed to be accessible and easy to use for developers and end-users alike. To help onboard new users and developers onto the network, Flow offers a minimum balance requirement for storage that can be provided by developers on behalf of their users, or borrowed from the community through decentralized crowdfunding.

Overall, the Flow token is a critical component of the Flow ecosystem, serving as a means of exchange, store of value, and governance mechanism for a wide range of decentralized applications and services. As the network continues to evolve and grow, the Flow token is expected to play an increasingly important role in supporting innovation and creativity across a broad range of industries and use cases.

The Flow token is used for a variety of purposes within the Flow ecosystem, including:

• Transaction fees: FLOW is used to pay for transaction fees on the network, similar to how gas is used on the Ethereum blockchain.

• Network governance: FLOW is used to participate in network governance, where token holders can vote on proposals to change the protocol or allocate resources from the ecosystem reserve.

• Staking rewards: Validators on the network are rewarded with FLOW for processing transactions and securing the network.

• Secondary tokens: Some service protocols built on top of the Flow blockchain use infused tokens, which are backed by FLOW and can be used to participate in protocol governance.

The Flow blockchain supports the creation of stablecoins, which are cryptographic tokens whose value is pegged to a stable asset such as a fiat currency or a basket of currencies. The blockchain supports two types of stablecoins:

• Fiat-backed stablecoins: These are fungible tokens whose supply is based on an equivalent amount of fiat currency available for redemption, typically in an audited bank account. Holders of fiat-backed stablecoins still require a minimum balance of FLOW.

• Algorithmic stablecoins: These stablecoins use FLOW token as collateral to create a secondary token whose supply is adjusted automatically to stabilize its value relative to given fiat currencies. The Flow ecosystem has reserved a significant allocation of FLOW tokens to bootstrap the collateral for at least two implementations of algorithmic stablecoins on the network whose security is rooted in the native FLOW token itself.

Flow was created by Dapper Labs, a company that specializes in blockchain-based games and digital collectibles. The company was founded by Roham Gharegozlou, Dieter Shirley, and Mikhael Naayem.

Dapper Labs, previously known as Axiom Zen, introduced Flow to the public in 2019 after raising $11 million in funding led by the venture capital firm A16z.

The company later conducted a second funding round, which was led by NBA stars Andre Iguodala and Spencer Dinwiddie. The funds raised in this round were intended to be used for the development of blockchain-based games on the Flow platform.