1. Main goal
To provide compatibility with the existing Ethereum developer toolchain and network. It does this by providing a full EVM implementation, a Web3-compatible API, and bridges that connect Moonbeam to existing Ethereum networks. This allows developers to deploy existing Solidity smart contracts and DApp frontends to Moonbeam with minimal changes.
With Moonbeam, developers and projects who moved from Ethereum Network to Polkadot Network can easily deploy their products and DApps on Polkadot.
2. Main features
Moonbeam will have 7 main features
- Governance.
- Staking.
- Ethereum Compatibility and The Same Development Environment As Ethereum.
- Using RUST Programming Language.
- Substrate Framework.
- Blockchain runtime.
- Unified Accounts.
3. Governance
The "hard" governance process for Moonbeam will be driven by an on-chain process and will leverage the Democracy, Council, and Treasury Substrate frame pallets, similar to how Kusama and the Polkadot Relay Chain are governed. The overall intent of these modules are to allow the majority of tokens on the network to determine the outcomes of key decisions around the network. These decision points come in the form of stake-weighted voting on proposed referenda.
4. Staking
Moonbeam uses a block production mechanism based on Polkadot's Proof-of-Stake model where there are collators and validators. Collators maintain parachains (in this case, Moonbeam) by collecting transactions from users and producing state transition proofs for the Relay Chain validators. The collators' sets (nodes that produce blocks) are selected based on their stake in the network. And here is where staking comes in. Collators (and token holders if they nominate) have a stake in the network from which they get slashed if they misbehave. Therefore, the higher the stake, the higher the network security. The higher the stake, the more likely the collator will get selected to produce a block and earn rewards, which they share with their nominators. In such a way, network members are incentivized to stake tokens to improve the overall security.
5. Ethereum Compatibility and The Same Development Environment As Ethereum
Because Moonbeam provides developers a full EVM implementation, it will also have features that Ethereum Network has. Such as:
- Solidity-Based Smart Contracts
- Ecosystem Tools (e.g., block explorers, front-end development libraries, wallets)
- Development Tools (e.g., Truffle, Remix, MetaMask)
- Ethereum Tokens via Bridges (e.g., token movement, state visibility, message passing)
- Furthermore, Moonbeam will also have a bridge that connects itself with Ethereum Network.
6. Using RUST Programming Language
Rust is a good language for implementing a blockchain, as it is highly performance like C and C++, but has built-in memory safety features that are enforced at compile time, which prevents many common bugs and security issues that can arise from C and C++ implementations.
7. Substrate Framework
Substrate provides a rich set of tools for creating blockchains, including a runtime execution environment that enables a generic state transition function, and a pluggable set of modules that provide implementations of various blockchain subsystems. Moonbeam leverages multiple existing Substrate frame pallets to provide key blockchain services and functionality, including core blockchain data structures, peer-to-peer networking, consensus mechanisms, accounts, assets, and balances. Custom pallets and logic in the runtime implement Moonbeam-specific behavior and functionality, such as cross-chain token integration. For leveraged pallets, Moonbeam will strive to stay as close as possible to the upstream Substrate codebase and incorporate Substrate bug fixes, enhancements, and new features on an ongoing basis.
8. Blockchain runtime
The core Moonbeam runtime specifies the state transition function and behavior of the Moonbeam blockchain. The Moonbeam runtime is built using FRAME. It includes several standard pallets as well as several custom ones. The runtime is compiled to a WebAssembly (Wasm) binary as well as a native binary. These compiled versions will be executed in the Polkadot Relay Chain and Moonbeam node environments.
9. Unified Accounts
Moonbeam’s focus is to create a fully Ethereum-compatible environment on Polkadot with the best user experience possible. This extends beyond the base Ethereum feature set, with additional features such as on-chain governance, staking, and cross-chain integrations.
With Unified Accounts, a user will only need a single H160 address, with its corresponding private key, to do everything including both EVM and Substrate functions. That means a user only needs to hold one private key that matches one address. User does not need to move balances between 2 different accounts and is able to access all the features with a single account and private key. Moonbeam has standardized this single account to conform to the Ethereum-style H160 address and ECDSA key standards.
10. GLMR & RIVER Tokens
GLMR is the native token of Moonbeam Network and RIVER is the native token of Moonriver Network. The total supply of both GLMR Tokens and RIVER tokens will be 10,000,000 GLMR and 10,000,000 RIVER.
Moonbeam and Moonriver will have two different tokens for every single network. Glimmer (GLMR) will be a native token of Moonbeam and River (RIVER) will be a native token of Moonriver. On basic, both Glimmer and River will have the same utilities. The only difference between them is the network. Users will need GLMR and RIVER to perform these action on Moonbeam network:
- Pay transaction fee to access and support network operations.
- Incentivize collators, the full nodes responsible for maintaining parachains on Polkadot and Kusama.
- Support the gas metering of smart contract execution.
- Facilitate on-chain governance mechanisms by proposing referenda, voting, electing council members, and more.
- Power the mechanics needed to create the decentralized node infrastructure on which the networks operate.
About Moonbeam Network:
Moonbeam is an Ethereum-compatible smart contract platform on the Polkadot network that makes it easy to build natively interoperable applications. This Ethereum compatibility allows developers to deploy existing Solidity smart contracts and DApp frontends to Moonbeam with minimal changes. As a parachain on the Polkadot network, Moonbeam will benefit from the shared security of the Polkadot relay chain and integrations with other chains that are connected to Polkadot. Currently in active development by PureStake, Moonbeam is expected to reach MainNet by mid-2021.
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