WFLR (Wrapped FLR) "Detachable" Vote Explained | Flare Network

You might’ve heard the term “detachable vote” or “detachable token” thrown around but is it really what you think it is?

So if you don’t already know, WFLR is the wrapped version of FLR and it’s almost exactly the same but with a couple of key differences.

FLR itself is the native currency of Flare Networks so it doesn’t have any ‘smart’ functionality. It’s used for gas and trading but that’s about it.

Wrapped FLR on the other hand, while maintaining the very same value as FLR, is able to participate in the FTSO system and earn rewards.

WFLR essentially enables smart functionality, it allows you to vote in the FTSO system while maintaining custody of the token itself leaving you free to transfer the token at any moment.

The misconception here is that some people believe this allows them to delegate their WFLR’s voting power to an FTSO price provider to earn rewards but also then directly use that very same WFLR in a yield farm such as the ones provided by Flare Finance.

It just doesn’t work that way BUT it’s possible to benefit from both; but perhaps not exactly how we first envisioned it.

A sacrifice must be made to earn rewards and yield from both the FTSO system and a Dapp such as Flare Finance. Before we get into that let me tell you about a core principle that you must understand: The voting power of WFLR moves with the token. In other words, the voting power is in the hands of its custodian.

Therefore, when you decide to stake your WFLR in a yield farm, you are losing custody of the WFLR along with its voting power. But, remember that saving grace I mentioned? Well, Dapps have the ability to vote on your behalf and route the earnings right back into your pocket!

But don’t forget the sacrifice I also mentioned. You will no longer have full control over how your WFLR vote is used. The particular Dapp may allow their users to vote how their collective voting power is used via governance proposals, but as it currently stands, you don’t have the ability to select exactly who you delegate your votes to without custody of the WFLR.

I don’t want to dive too deep into how Dapps will handle this as for the most part we don’t exactly know at this stage but what we do know is that a vote can be delegated to a maximum of three FTSO price providers from a particular address.

So as an example, an individual address holding a number of WFLR tokens can choose to delegate a set percentage to a maximum of three different price providers. As a result, a Dapp that stores all its user WFLR in a single address will only be able to delegate the votes to three different FTSO providers and as such be limited from allowing each user to select which FTSO price provider they want their votes delegated to.

Let’s look at a few examples

You have 100 FLR sitting in your wallet, such as the upcoming Bifrost wallet and want to support an FTSO price provider as well as earn a reward for doing so.

You will first wrap your 100 FLR into 100 WFLR then select an FTSO provider and delegate your 100 WFLR votes to begin earning rewards.

So in this scenario, you must keep your WFLR in your wallet to maintain your delegation.

The freedom you have here is that at any moment, you are able to transfer tokens out of your wallet, say you send 20 WFLR to a friend, your price provider delegation will still exist but will automatically be lowered to the 80 remaining WFLR and your delegation rewards will reflect that.

The other scenario is that you want to earn both rewards from delegating to an FTSO price provider but also from a yield farm on Flare Finance.

This time you won’t actually make a delegation to an FTSO price provider but will instead deposit your WFLR into the respective yield pool on Flare Finance.

You will earn yield from Flare Finance and Flare Finance will route rewards they earn from the FTSO price provider, or providers, that they selected back to you.

The key takeaways here are:

~ If you want to maintain full control over how your WFLR is used in the FTSO system, you MUST have custody of it - so no yield farming for you.

~ If you want the best of both worlds, no problemo except that you must be willing to let go of the control you have over how your WFLR vote is used.

~ The magic of WFLR is its ability to be utilised in voting and delegation mechanisms on the Flare Network while still being held by its custodian and being free to move at any time.

Here's a video explaining the above, with the Flare Finance example included.

For more of my videos you can visit my [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeF146a-oUHELpzuFvGSyYQ).

Here's where you can find more information on Flare Network and Flare Finance