Glossary
Flow
A Layer-1 by Dapper Labs (the team behind CryptoKitties) optimized for high-throughput consumer apps — pipelined transaction processing across specialized node roles.
Flow, launched in 2020, was designed by Dapper Labs to avoid the congestion CryptoKitties caused on Ethereum in 2017. Its consensus splits validator responsibilities across four node types (Collection, Consensus, Execution, Verification), pipelining transaction processing for higher throughput.
Smart contracts are written in Cadence, a resource-oriented language with first-class assets. Flow underpins NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, and other Dapper consumer products, plus an EVM compatibility layer added in 2024.