Parachains are project-specific blockchains that allow customization for any number of use cases and feed into the main blockchain, called the Relay Chain, considered to be the heart of the Polkadot network. As a parachain operating on the Polkadot network, Moonbeam will natively enjoy interoperability with subsequent parachains as they become available. 

Moonbeam completed its three part launch on Tuesday January 1, removing the network’s superuser key and handing control directly to Moonbeam token holders. 

Moonbeam’s initial launch started with ensuring everything was running as intended with centralized block production. Once confirmed, independent collators were added to help decentralize the network. With Moonbeam’s full launch, the network has achieved the required minimum of 48 collators, subsequently activating both Ethereum compatibility and staking for Moonbeam’s $GLMR token. 

Contributors to the Moonbeam parachain auction crowdloan now have the ability to claim their Moonbeam governance token rewards. Staking rewards are also now available to any token holders who choose to delegate their holdings to a collator to earn rewards with distribution based on the number of tokens a user has contributed versus the total amount bonded to the collator.

One benefit of Moonbeam’s compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, allowing developers the ability to easily port over applications from the Ethereum mainnet without the need for large changes to the underlying code allowing key infrastructure from Ethereum to launch on the network within the coming weeks including Chainlink oracles, indexing protocol The Graph, and several multichain bridges. 

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