Flow is a community-controlled, open and fully decentralized blockchain that was designed with decentralization in mind. It has grown increasingly decentralized over time with more than 10,000 developers engaged in building applications on Flow and over 3,000 smart contracts presently deployed on the network. Only a third of the nodes are controlled by a single entity, and a diverse range of teams and projects are building on Flow.

On Flow, nodes are operated by members of the community. Anyone can become a validator by staking FLOW tokens and running a node, thus ensuring that the network remains decentralized. The network is inherently secure due to the separation of concerns, with consensus being separated from transaction execution. This makes the network more resistant to attacks. Flow is designed to scale without sharding, which allows for high throughput and low latency while preserving decentralization. Flow's governance structure prioritizes safety, transparency, and longevity, with a community-led approach to platform maintenance, administration, and growth.

Flowdiver provides a comprehensive overview of the Flow network, displaying important details about the distribution of stake across numerous nodes located in different regions. This platform also monitors the network's operational status and efficiency, presenting essential metrics such as uptime for both the network and access nodes, collection and block finalization, transaction execution, sealing metrics, and the consensus leaderboard.

Flow is a blockchain based on proof of stake that uses the native token of the chain, FLOW. This token is used to reward staked participants, facilitate transactions within the ecosystem, and cover network fees.

FLOW has multiple critical functions within the Flow network, including staking, rewards, fees, storage deposits, medium of exchange, collateral, and governance. The token is required for validators and delegators to participate in the network and is also used for transaction fees. In addition, FLOW serves as a collateral on DeFi apps and is the principal token for voting on future protocol and ecosystem development.