Google Cloud Becomes Flare’s Validator and Starts Broadcasting Data to FTSO

With a new solution, Flare’s validator scene becomes larger and more decentralized than ever before. Also, the collaboration advances the synergy between off-chain and on-chain data for Flare and every of its dApps.

Starting from Jan. 15, 2024, Google Cloud supports Flare’s proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, proposing and validating new blocks on the Flare blockchain together with amost 90 peers from across the globe. Besides that, Google Cloud is now a part of Flare Time Series Oracle, or FTSO, a Flare’s eccentric decentralized oracle mechanism.

As a data provider for the FTSO, Google is responsible for retrieving off-chain time series data and supplying it to the FTSO smart contract at regular intervals.

When combined with submissions from all of the other data providers, this submission enables a decentralized median value to be calculated and made available to all dApps on the network.

James Tromans, Head of Web3 at Google Cloud, stressed the importance of the partnership for both teams:

Data access at scale is important to increase relevant blockchain use-cases and greater global adoption of the technology. Google Cloud becoming a validator on the Flare Network will support this mission.

The second part of the collaboration (FTSO integration) is a unique process, per Flare’s statement. This is the first time that Google Cloud has participated in a decentralized oracle system, either natively on a blockchain (as with Flare), or with an off-chain system such as Chainlink.

Hugo Philion, cofounder of Flare and CEO of Flare Labs, is sure that the collaboration will unlock new opportunities for data-sensitive use cases in Web2 and Web3:

As the blockchain for data, we’re excited that Google Cloud is joining our decentralized network of existing infrastructure providers who contribute to Flare. Our work together will help deliever a more robust decentralized smart contract platform that places decentralized data at its core.

Using the decentralized infrastructure of the network, the validators are able to remove the data bottlenecks more effectively.

This enables Flare to support the development of these exciting next generation dapps, from AI and RWA to social and gaming.