Flowchain: Distributed Ledger for IoT and Real-Time Data Streams

What is Flowchain

Friends, imagine countless smart devices around us—like smart home gadgets and sensors in smart factories—constantly generating massive amounts of data. If this data can be securely and instantly collected and processed, it can create tremendous value. But traditional technologies often struggle to be both fast and secure. The Flowchain (FLC) project is like a “data superhighway” tailor-made for these smart devices, leveraging blockchain technology to enable peer-to-peer (P2P) real-time data exchange and transactions between IoT devices, while ensuring the security and trustworthiness of the data.

The project’s target users are mainly enterprises, especially those that need to process large volumes of IoT data for real-time analysis and decision-making. For example, in healthcare, Flowchain’s technology can help professionals ensure that data collected from medical devices like smartwatches is authentic and tamper-proof.

Simply put, Flowchain aims to solve the core problem of how, in a future where IoT devices are exploding in number, data transmission between these devices can be lightning-fast and as secure as a bank vault.

Project Vision and Value Proposition

Flowchain’s vision is to provide enterprises with a comprehensive “Data 2025 Ready” solution. “Data 2025” refers to the prediction that by 2025, over 150 billion IoT devices will be connected globally, most requiring real-time operation. Flowchain believes that current IoT technologies cannot deliver this real-time processing capability, and their solution fills this technological gap.

The core problems it aims to solve include: enabling real-time data transactions for IoT, building more secure and cost-effective IoT systems, ensuring trusted communication between devices, protecting data privacy, and maintaining data integrity. Flowchain’s uniqueness lies in designing blockchain technology from scratch for IoT, adopting a hybrid blockchain architecture, unique “virtual block” technology, and “Pseudonymous Public Key Infrastructure” (PPKI), and advancing the project in an open-source manner.

Technical Features

Flowchain’s technology is like a meticulously designed traffic system, ensuring the smooth and secure flow of IoT data:

Hybrid Blockchain Architecture

Flowchain adopts a “hybrid blockchain” design, akin to a city with both public highways and private lanes. It consists of a public blockchain and multiple private blockchains. The public blockchain acts as the city’s central hub, handling transactions requiring high transparency and trust, and providing AI computing power. Private blockchains are like dedicated lanes, deployed at the “edge” of IoT devices, processing data that demands high real-time performance and privacy, ensuring efficiency and speed in data handling.

Virtual Blocks

This is a core innovation of Flowchain, which can be understood as a special “data packaging” method designed for real-time data transactions. In traditional blockchains, all nodes compete to package blocks and synchronize all data, consuming significant time and resources. Flowchain’s “virtual block” mechanism allows each IoT device (node) to independently mine and package data on its own “branch,” without needing to synchronize with all other nodes. This greatly accelerates data processing—like each device having its own dedicated ledger to quickly record information, without waiting for network-wide consensus.

Pseudonymous Public Key Infrastructure (PPKI)

For IoT devices, traditional cryptographic authentication (PKI) is resource-intensive and energy-consuming—like asking a small electric car to haul a heavy truck’s load, which is inefficient. Flowchain introduces PPKI technology, providing IoT devices with real-time, random, and unique public keys for fast and secure authentication without heavy resource consumption. It works by having miners on the public blockchain generate “puzzles” and “Lambda” values, then hybrid consensus nodes broadcast the puzzles to IoT devices. The device that solves the puzzle fastest gets authenticated, enabling trusted communication.

Consensus Mechanism

Flowchain’s public blockchain uses a hybrid of Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS), while private blockchains mainly use PoS. This hybrid mechanism aims to balance decentralization, security, and efficiency. (Proof-of-Stake: a blockchain consensus mechanism where validators lock up tokens to earn the right to validate transactions and create new blocks, rather than competing via computational power.)

P2P IoT Networking

The Flowchain operating system enables IoT devices to form a decentralized peer-to-peer network—like a connected community of smart devices that communicate directly, without centralized servers. It also utilizes MIT’s Chord algorithm for efficient device and data location lookup within the network.

Tech Stack

Flowchain nodes are primarily built with Node.js, and its implementation is 100% JavaScript-based, making deployment on IoT devices highly flexible.

Tokenomics

Flowchain’s native token is FLC, which plays a vital role throughout the ecosystem.

Token Utility

• Payment Tool: FLC can be used to pay for Flowchain’s products and services.
• Transaction Fees: Users pay FLC as transaction fees to block producers (miners) in the network.
• Data Security & Validation: FLC, combined with “tokenized IoT hardware,” ensures the security and validity of IoT data.
• Miner Rewards: FLC is used to reward miners who contribute resources to the network. These miners include:
  • Hybrid Node Miners: Contribute network bandwidth.
  • IPFS Node Miners: Contribute storage space for deploying and storing Flowchain decentralized application (DApp) data.
  • AI Node Miners: Contribute GPU computing power to run Flowchain DApps.
• Utility Token: FLC is considered a utility token and can be used to pre-purchase Flowchain products and services.

Token Basic Info

• Token Symbol: FLC
• Issuing Chain: The whitepaper states most FLC tokens are distributed via Ethereum’s distribution layer technology.
• Contract Address:
  0x32C4ADB9cF57f972bc375129de91C897b4F364F1
• Total Supply: 1,000,000,000 FLC (1 billion)
• Current Circulating Supply: About 881,836.07 FLC, accounting for 0.08818% of total supply. (Note: This is a very small circulating supply, which may indicate low market liquidity.)
• Issuance Mechanism: Mainly rewards community members and miners supporting the network via public mining.
• Inflation/Burn: No specific inflation or burn mechanism is mentioned, but block rewards imply ongoing token issuance.

(Note: Token circulation and market data may change in real time; the above figures are based on currently available information.)

Team, Governance & Funding

Core Members

• Jollen Chen: Founder and CEO of Flowchain, also creator and lead developer of the Flowchain.io open-source project. He has years of experience in embedded software and full-stack network development, with research interests in distributed ledger technology (DLT) and IoT data security.
• Angelina Huang: Responsible for PR and marketing.

Team Features

The Flowchain team originated in Taiwan and is supported by open-source contributors from Singapore, Europe, China, and other regions. The team emphasizes its open-source development philosophy, aiming to build a developer community to collectively combat fraud.

Governance Mechanism

Flowchain adopts an open-source approach and mentions that the Flowchain.org platform is transitioning to a community-driven management model. This means future project development and decision-making may increasingly rely on community participation and consensus.

Funding

The historical roadmap mentions “ICO: private placement and pre-allocation” in 2018, and “ICO: crowdfunding” in 2019. However, some sources in 2019 state that Flowchain “has not conducted an ICO to date.” This may indicate changes in fundraising strategy at different stages, or discrepancies in information. There is currently no detailed public information about the project treasury or reserves.

Roadmap

Flowchain’s development history dates back several years, with the following key milestones:

Historical Milestones

• 2015: Project concept initiated.
• 2016: Web of Things (WoT) framework proposed.
• 2017: Devify (a decentralized software framework for P2P and interoperable IoT devices) proposed. First Flowchain whitepaper released.
• 2018: “Tokenized hardware and AI based on IoT blockchain” concept proposed, and ICO private placement and pre-allocation mentioned.
• 2019: IoT blockchain built on WoT framework, ICO crowdfunding stage mentioned, and entry into global markets. Updated Flowchain whitepaper released.

Future Plans

Currently available public information provides little detail on Flowchain’s specific future plans and timeline. The overall vision is to provide enterprises with a “Data 2025 Ready” solution, but there is no detailed schedule for future technical development or market expansion.

Common Risk Reminders

All blockchain projects carry risks, and Flowchain is no exception. When learning about this project, pay attention to the following:

Technical & Security Risks

• New Technology Risk: Flowchain introduces innovations like “virtual blocks” and “PPKI,” whose real-world performance, stability, and security need time to be validated.
• IoT Security Challenges: IoT devices themselves may have security vulnerabilities; even if the blockchain layer is secure, device-level risks could affect the whole system.
• Hybrid Blockchain Complexity: Combining public and private chains adds design and maintenance complexity, which may pose technical challenges.

Economic Risks

• Low Liquidity Risk: FLC’s current circulating supply is very small (about 0.08818%), and market trading volume and capitalization are also low. This means token liquidity may be insufficient, price volatility may be high, and trading may be difficult.
• Information Transparency: There is limited public information on detailed token allocation, unlocking schedules, and project fund usage, which may increase investor uncertainty.
• Project Activity: The whitepaper was published some time ago (2017, 2019); further verification is needed to assess current technical development and community activity.

Compliance & Operational Risks

• Regulatory Uncertainty: Global blockchain and crypto regulations are evolving, and the IoT-blockchain sector may face new compliance requirements.
• Open Source Sustainability: As an open-source project, long-term operation and maintenance may depend on community contributions and a clear funding model.

Remember, the above risk reminders are not exhaustive and are for reference only. Always conduct a comprehensive risk assessment when considering any project.

Verification Checklist

• Block Explorer Contract Address: FLC’s Ethereum contract address is
  0x32C4ADB9cF57f972bc375129de91C897b4F364F1
  . You can check transaction records, holder addresses, etc. via Ethereum block explorers like Etherscan.
• GitHub Activity: Flowchain has relevant code repositories on GitHub, such as “flowchain-app” and “flowchain-core” under the “FlowChain” homepage, related to IoT servers and plugins. You can visit its GitHub page to review code commit frequency, issue resolution, etc., to assess development activity.
• Official Website & Community: It’s recommended to look for Flowchain’s official website, social media (Twitter, Medium, Telegram, etc.), and forums to follow the latest updates, community discussions, and development progress.

Project Summary

Flowchain (FLC) is a blockchain project focused on the IoT sector, aiming to address the pain points of real-time data transactions and security for IoT devices through its unique hybrid blockchain architecture, virtual block technology, and PPKI authentication mechanism. It is committed to providing enterprises with an efficient, secure, and trustworthy IoT data processing platform to meet the challenges of future massive IoT device deployments. The FLC token plays a key role in payments, transaction fees, and miner incentives within the ecosystem.

The project proposes several technical innovations, such as virtual blocks that allow devices to mine independently and PPKI authentication optimized for IoT. However, note that the whitepaper was published some time ago (2017, 2019), and the current FLC token circulation is very low, with limited market liquidity. This may indicate the project is in an early stage or has limited development and market impact. When evaluating this project, it is recommended to research its latest technical progress, community activity, team composition, and market performance in depth. Please remember, the above information is for project introduction only and does not constitute investment advice. The cryptocurrency market is highly risky; please do your own research and make decisions cautiously.