What is Moonbeam?
Moonbeam is a parachain on Polkadot and offers Ethereum-compatible smart contract features. In addition, Moonbeam hosts ChainSafe's ChainBridge, which provides a two-way bridge service between the Ethereum blockchain and the Polkadot ecosystem. As a fully decentralized platform with smart contract support, Moonbeam also uses its own Glimmer Token (GLMR) to manage the network.
Moonbeam is much more than just an EVM implementation: it is a highly specialized Layer 1.5 chain that mirrors Ethereum's Web3 RPC, accounts, keys, subscriptions, protocols, and more. The Moonbeam platform extends Ethereum's base capabilities with additional features such as on-chain governance, staking, and cross-chain integrations.
Features of Moonbeam
Moonbeam addresses the blockchain interoperability problem by providing a platform for blockchains to seamlessly interact with Ethereum. The Moonbeam protocol helps developers create a connected ecosystem with the following unique features:
Permission-free DApps: Moonbeam offers a higher level of decentralization and censorship resistance. The platform supports the growing DApp ecosystem by providing open source blockchain and open source development.
Interoperation with EVM: Moonbeam allows you to migrate Solidity-based smart contracts running on the Ethereum VM to the platform with minimal changes.
Advanced API: Moonbeam allows developers to port front-end DApps without major changes. This allows users of the Moonbeam network to run tools like Truffle or MetaMask without freezing.
Substrate- Compatible Tools: These tools include block explorers, front-end 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 enable token movement, state visibility, and messaging with Ethereum and other chains.
On- Chain Governance: The governance that takes place on the chain allows Moonbeam stakeholders to rapidly evolve the underlying protocol according to the needs of developers and the community, without the need for any forks.
Glimmer Token (GLMR)
The Moonbeam platform has an underlying asset called Glimmer (GLMR) that has unique features across the ecosystem. Glimmer operates on the Moonbeam network and the Polkadot relay network.
GLMR is used to:
-Pay transaction fees.
-Support network operations.
-Reward collectors.
-Support on-chain governance.
-Support gas metering in the execution of smart contracts.
GLMR has 10 million Genesis tokens and a 5% annual inflation rate. Tokens are issued for seed funding, strategic sales, public sales, parachain bond funding, treasury, development, partners/consultants, founders, and others. Moonbeam counters the 5% inflation by burning 80% of the transaction fees.
River Token (RIVER)
The RIVER token is deployed on Kusama and acts as a "CanaryNet" on the network. This means that the usage behaviour of the token on Moonriver is the same as Moonbeam.
Conclusion
Moonbeam is not a typical EVM implementation. Instead, it complements existing Ethereum features such as betting, chain management, and inter-blockchain connexions.
Notably, Moonbeam's community governance structure is multi-tiered. This ensures that only the most viable proposals make it to the voting stage. Furthermore, the integration of EVM and Web3 makes it easy for developers to migrate existing projects to the network with minimal changes.