The highly anticipated Flare Network (FLR) airdrop to XRP holders has finally taken place, and has so far resulted in a sell-off for the long-awaited token.
Flare Network, with its native FLR token, aims to essentially bring smart contract capabilities to various blockchain networks, starting with XRP and later Litecoin (LTC).
FLR was distributed to XRP holders based on a snapshot of the XRP Ledger (XRPL) taken in late 2020. With 4.279 billion FLR tokens distributed to millions of users, the airdrop is thought to be one of the biggest in crypto history.
After token distribution launched on January 9th one minute to midnight UTC, FLR sold off by 87%, from $0.15 to $0.0236. It has since slightly stabilized and is now 54% off its lows, currently trading for $0.036.
Most major crypto exchangers have voiced support for the airdrop, including Binance, OKX and Kraken.
In an announcement, Binance says that FLR was distributed to eligible users at a rate of 0.1511 FLR for every single XRP.
Says Hugo Philion, CEO and co-founder of Flare Network,
“Flare’s objective is to enable developers to build applications that securely access more data. This could enable new use cases to be built, such as triggering a Flare smart contract action with a payment made on another chain, or with input from an internet/web2 API. It also facilitates a new way of bridging, specifically to bring non-smart contract tokens to Flare for use in applications like DeFi protocols.”
Also selling off is Songbird (SGB), Flare’s canary network, which is down 20% in the last 24 hours and is now 98.3% away from all-time highs, currently trading for $0.0121.
According to Flare Network, Songbird is meant to test Flare technology before mainnet, provide decentralized application (DApp) builders with a live testing environment, and serve as the lower house in a bicameral governance structure.