As of October 2020, FLM token trading is not yet available at any of the cryptocurrency exchanges and can only be received via direct participation in the Flamingo network. We will update this page when FLM starts trading on publicly available exchanges.

FLM is based on NEP-5, Neo’s token compatibility standard, so it is secured by Neo’s blockchain. In turn, Neo is secured by two hash functions: [SHA-256](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/sha-256) (the same one Bitcoin [[BTC](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/)] is secured by) and RIPEMD-160.

FLM tokens are planned to be issued in several batches and distributed among the ecosystem’s participants based on their actual participation in the network. Flamingo’s team emphasizes the fact that no FLM tokens will be sold, minted or given to the platform’s team prior to its public launch. During the first week after the launch of the Flamingo Vault — the so-called “mint rush” period — 50 million FLM are to be distributed among staking pools. After the launch of Flamingo Swap (week 2-5), 40 million more FLM will be distributed to liquidity providers. During week 6-9, an additional 30 million FLM will be distributed among liquidity providers and FUSD minters. Finally, during week 10-13, another 30 million FLM are set to be distributed between liquidity providers, FUSD minters and Flamingo Perp traders. There is no upper limit on the total FLM supply: after the initial period of minting and the launch of the governing decentralized autonomous organization, the issuance of new FLM tokens and their distribution will be subject to the [consensus](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/consensus) of the ecosystem’s users.

Flamingo positions itself as a singular platform that combines multiple decentralized finance tools for Neo into a common ecosystem that will be governed by its users via a decentralized autonomous organization. Decentralized finance is a nascent, fast-growing trend in the cryptocurrency industry that encompasses various financial solutions that often operate on top of cryptocurrency blockchains. Working as a sort of second-layer industry, DeFi platforms are conceptually aligned with the idea of the cryptocurrency industry as a whole: eliminating third parties and singular points of failure from monetary and financial systems. Having emerged in early 2019, by mid-2020 the DeFi industry already boasted over $4 billion in locked collateral assets. Some of the main use cases in DeFi are cryptocurrency lending, [yield farming](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/yield-farming) and decentralized exchanges. However, for most cryptocurrencies and their respective DeFi environments, each of these solutions is usually provided by a single separate platform. Flamingo’s unique advantage comes from the fact that it’s aiming to combine all the key financial instruments for the Neo cryptocurrency token (token wrapping, liquidity pooling, asset vault and contract trading) and make them available via a single platform that will be governed by its own users in a decentralized way.

The founder of Flamingo is Da Hongfei, a Chinese entrepreneur also known for co-founding one of the main competitors of Ethereum: the blockchain network Neo, which Flamingo is based on. Hongfei has also co-founded OnChain, a private blockchain services company. Da Hongfei has a degree in English and technology from the South China University of Technology and has worked as the CEO of the IntPass Consulting firm prior to teaching himself how to code and entering the blockchain scene in 2013-2014.

Flamingo is a decentralized finance ([DeFi](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-decentralized-finance)) platform based on the Neo [blockchain](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/blockchain) and the Poly Network interoperability protocol. It combines several DeFi applications into a single ecosystem: a cross-blockchain asset gateway (wrapper), an on-blockchain [liquidity pool](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/liquidity-pool) (swap), a blockchain asset vault, a perpetual contract trading platform (perp) and a decentralized governance organization ([DAO](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/decentralized-autonomous-organizations-dao)). Different components of the Flamingo network are planned to be launched in several phases: * Token wrapper for Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, Neo, Ontology and others: September 23, 2020 * Swap and LP token staking: September 30, 2020 * Phase 3 vault launch and stablecoin issuance: October 28, 2020 * Perp launch: November 25, 2020 * DAO launch: December 23, 2020