## What Is Reef (REEF)?

Reef is a **R**eliable **E**xtensible **E**fficient **F**ast Layer-1 Blockchain for DeFi, NFT & Gaming. Built using Substrate Framework, it provides high scalability, enabling almost instant low-cost transactions, and supports Solidity and EVM, allowing developers to seamlessly migrate their DApps from Ethereum without any change in the codebase. 

Reef Chain is the most advanced EVM-compatible blockchain. It's self-upgradable and has on-chain governance. Its infrastructure also allows for EVM extensions which allows for native token bridge, scheduled calls (ie. recurring payments), and smart contract in-place code upgrades. In the near future, it will support additional VMs which will allow developers to write code in multiple programming languages. The network runs on a Nominated Proof-of-Stake (NPoS) consensus mechanism, which offers scalability and low fees.

REEF is the native token that is used for:

* Fees for processing transactions and storing data.
* Running validator nodes by staking REEF tokens.
* Nominating which validator nodes should be part of the network.

Reef is backed by multiple leading funds and venture capitalists including NGC, QCP, Bitcoin.com, Kenetic Capital, LD Capital, TRG Capital, Krypital Group, Genesis Block, Woodstock Fund and others. 

Reef Chain development tools include: 

* Remix and EVM integrated development environments for uploading and deploying smart contracts.
* Reefscan blockchain explorer to assist with deploying validators, bonding and nominating validators, debugging contracts, and understanding network performance. 
* Reef command line tools that allow developers deploy applications from local environments.
* Reef wallet for accessing and interacting with the blockchain

## How Many REEF Coins Are There in Circulation?

Reef Chain is a smart contract blockchain, backwards compatible with EVM and Solidity, designed to make DeFi, NFT and Gaming easy for everyone. At present, REEF has a circulating supply of 14,807,552,172
tokens while 38.2% of the Reef Chain supply is staked. Reef Chain today has over 23 validators. The current inflation of the supply is 8.3%


### Who Are the Founders of Reef?

Reef was founded by Denko Mancheski. His motivation was to build the most advanced blockchain for retail investors who want to get involved with DeFi, NFTs and Gaming.

Mancheski wanted to help cryptocurrency newcomers overcome the complexities associated with interacting with a blockchain and understanding new concepts such as DeFi and NFTs. Additionally, the ability to give access many bridges to other blockchains so that funds and liquidity can easily be ported to Reef Chain, allowing retail investors to take advantage of high scalability and low fees.

Born in Macedonia, Mancheski said that his passion for FinTech led to him being introduced to blockchain technology. He has described forming a competent team as the biggest challenge associated with bringing Reef to life.

When asked about the personal attributes that will help him become a successful entrepreneur, he added: “I have a very addictive personality — I just can’t stop doing something until I get to the goal that I set for myself.”

### Where Can I Buy Reef (REEF)?

[Binance](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/binance/) offers the largest number of pairs as of September 2020 offering trading against USDT, BTC, and BUSD, while [Huobi Global](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/huobi-global/) also offers [Bitcoin](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/) (BTC), [Ethereum](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/) (ETH) and [Tether](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/tether/) (USDT) options. 

It has also been listed on [Gate.io](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/gate-io/) and [Bitfinex](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/bitfinex/). Bitfinex also supports Reef Chain.

REEF can also be acquired through decentralized exchanges such as [1inch](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/1inch-exchange/) and [Uniswap](https://coinmarketcap.com/exchanges/uniswap-v2/).

New to cryptocurrency? Read CoinMarketCap’s [easy guide] (https://coinmarketcap.com/how-to-buy-bitcoin/) to buying Bitcoin or any other token.

Here are some other articles that you may be interested in:

* [What Are Crypto Debit Cards?](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-are-crypto-debit-cards)
* [What Is Web 3.0?](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-web-3-0)
* [What Is Yield Farming?](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-yield-farming)
* [What Is Crypto Lending?](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/what-is-crypto-lending)


#### What Makes Reef Chain Unique?

Reef is geared towards cryptocurrency newcomers, alongside existing DeFi users who find it difficult to keep up with maintaining funds and wallets across multiple blockchains. The team has tackled the high gas fees seen on the Ethereum blockchain by building on Substrate, which enable almost instant transactions and low costs, where some claim Ethereum’s fees renders DeFi protocols “unusable.”

What makes the Reef chain unique is that any DeFi protocol that has already deployed on Ethereum or an EVM-compatible network can run on Reef with just a few changes to the code. Since Reef Chain straddles this intersection between Ethereum and Polkadot, along with bridges to other blockchains, the Reef ecosystem can be accessed by anyone with a Web3 wallet that is interested in accessing dApps on Reef.

Because of how it has been built on Substrate, Reef is extensible and can have support for multiple VMs (Virtual Machines) as well as extension for existing popular VMs such as EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine). It has on-chain upgrades functionality so any new features are easily pushed through the networking layer, but also on-chain governance.


### How Is the Reef Chain Network Secured?

Reef uses a Nominated Proof of Stake system to bond to potential validators, nominate potential validators, and to secure the Reef network. This allows for low cost, almost instant transactions with finality achieved in 10 seconds on average.

For those without the technical skills to run a Validator node, they can be a Nominator. Nominators secure the Reef Relay Chain by selecting good validators and staking REEF.

Being a Validator requires technical expertise, staking REEF, and running a node 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year with high availability. Validators that cannot maintain performance or up time have their stakes slashed, as do their Nominators.

While REEF are staked by nominating a Validator, they are ‘locked’ (bonded). Nominators can receive new REEF in their wallet, but cannot stake as a Validator or transfer REEF away from their wallet. Nominators can un-nominate at any time to stop staking their funds, which becomes effective in the next era. Un-nominating does not automatically unbond funds. There is an unbonding period of 28 days on Reef before bonded funds can be transferred after issuing an unbond transaction.


#### Related Pages:

New to cryptocurrency? Find all the information you need with [Alexandria](https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/categories/crypto-basics), CoinMarketCap’s dedicated education resource.



Reef

Trust Wallet

MetaMask

Binance Chain Wallet

Atomic wallet

Reef is an EVM-first blockchain designed to make Web3 accessible for the next billion users.