CoinMarketCap takes a deep dive into a new Polkadot smart contract platform.
Moonbeam’s mantra echoes what many blockchain developers have known for some time: “the future is multi-chain.” But more than that, tomorrow’s blockchain systems won’t work separately as they do now. They will communicate with each other and mesh together in a multiverse of blockchains in a way that will give users and developers the most benefits.
Moonbeam is a parachain on Polkadot that brings smart contracts and interoperability with Ethereum to the table. Moonbeam extends Ethereum’s capabilities to include features like on-chain governance, staking, and cross-chain integration. The project was launched in January 2020 by Derek Yoo of Pure Stake, a company that provides tools and infrastructure services to blockchain developers.
In short, Moonbeam will let Ethereum developers stretch their legs and extend their influence to the Polkadot ecosystem while sharing workloads seamlessly on a new layer.
This video summarizes Derek Yoo’s vision for the new project and how Moonbeam is helping a large number of developers build cross-chain applications.
This video summarizes Derek Yoo’s vision for the new project and how Moonbeam is helping a large number of developers build cross-chain applications.
How Does Moonbeam Work?
Moonbeam is a parachain that operates on the Polkadot network. While taking advantage of Polkadot’s unique speed and bridging properties, developers can also have full EVM capabilities from Ethereum. Moonbeam also provides an API that allows for greater Web 3.0 access and greater ease of use when deploying Solidity smart contracts and DApps that were already created on Ethereum to Moonbeam.
In the third quarter of 2021, Moonbeam is set to launch its anticipated mainnet that will offer a wide range of benefits to the audience.
Moonbeam acts as a bridge that lets developers and users work with both Ethereum and Polkadot, two of the most popular blockchains. It leverages the robust infrastructure and smart contracts of Ethereum and combines them with the rock-solid tools available on Polkadot.
What Makes Moonbeam Unique?
There are many other protocols and chains that are working together to provide a more interconnected blockchain and crypto environment. Blockchain projects solve many problems, but we don’t want their benefits to be constrained to one chain or another. So what is Moonbeam’s unique solution?
Moonbeam tackles the problem of blockchain interoperability by providing a framework for blockchains to interact with Ethereum seamlessly. The Moonbeam protocol helps developers create an interconnected ecosystem with these unique features:
- Permissionless DApps: Moonbeam provides a greater level of decentralization and censorship resistance. The platform supports a growing DApp ecosystem by providing public blockchain and open source development.
- Collaboration With EVM: Moonbeam enables Solidity-based smart contracts that run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine to be transferred to the platform with minimal changes.
- Advanced API: Moonbeam allows developers to migrate front-end DApps without major changes. This allows Moonbeam network users to execute tools, like Truffle or MetaMask, with no hangups.
- Substrate-Compatible Tools: These tools include block explorers, front-end development libraries, and wallets that help both developers and users create and interact with their blockchain space.
- Cross-Chain Integration: Using the Polkadot network and token bridges, Moonbeam can allow token movement, state visibility, and message passing with Ethereum and other chains.
- On-Chain Governance: Governance that occurs on-chain allows Moonbeam stakeholders to quickly evolve the base protocol according to developer and community needs without the need for any forks.
Moonbeam has growing support from developers and organizations like SushiSwap, Chainlink, Band Protocol, Biconomy, DODO, The Graph, Ocean, Razor, Covalent, and many more. These systems have all implemented Moonbeam as a building block for interoperability.
What is Glimmer (GLMR)?
Moonbeam depends on its native utility token, Glimmer (GLMR), for its operations. The token is essential to the parachain’s design as it powers the smart contracts, facilitates the security of the network, and enables DApp performance.
There will be 1,600,000 GLMR tokens for sale during the ICO launch. The total supply of tokens is anticipated to be broken down in the following way:
- Advisors - 6%
- Foundation - 37%
- Private Sale - 12%
- Public Sale - 17%
- Team - 15%
- Seed Sale - 14%
When Glimmer tokens become available they will most likely be swappable on DEXs, like PancakeSwap, SushiSwap, and Uniswap, and available on Binance and other more centralized exchanges.
The Future of Moonbeam
As the Moonbeam mainnet launches, it will attract a growing sect of DeFi developers who want to stretch Ethereum’s capabilities while binding and bridging them with the benefits of other blockchain ecosystems. Moonbeam will probably be working in conjunction with other platforms like Clover that act as an in-between layer (or layer-1.5 chain, as Moonbeam likes to refer to it). These new systems will bring enhanced capabilities to expand DeFi across blockchains.
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