Latest TestNet, Moonbase Alpha v3, Introduces New Functionality That Unifies Accounts and Simplifies the Experience for Ethereum Developers and Users.
Singapore – November 17, 2020 – PureStake, the company that develops the Moonbeam smart contract platform, announced the latest version of its TestNet, Moonbase Alpha v3. This incorporates a significant account system update that will substantially improve the experience for users coming from Ethereum. It is also the third considerable update and feature release since the introduction of Moonbase Alpha in September.
Moonbeam is a smart contract platform that provides a simpler way for Ethereum projects to expand to Polkadot. By minimizing the changes required to run existing Solidity smart contracts on the new network, Ethereum projects can simply replicate their dApp and deploy it to Moonbeam using Truffle, Remix, and other popular deployment tools.
This update further improves the process by changing the underlying account structure of the platform to match current Ethereum standards, which eliminates the need for developers and token holders to maintain dual private keys and addresses.
This functionality is unique to Moonbeam and is not available on other platforms, both in the Polkadot ecosystem and beyond. Users will now be able to use a single Ethereum-like account and its associated private key to interact with dApps and protocols implemented in the Moonbeam EVM. Simultaneously, they can use the same Ethereum-like account for Substrate-based actions such as staking and on-chain governance.
This update dramatically improves user experience by eliminating confusion about when to use one key versus another. It also enhances the security of users by having only one private key and eliminating the need to transfer balances between two types of accounts on the platform.
These are the new features that Moonbase Alpha v3 includes:
- Full support for Ethereum-like H160 addresses and ECDSA keys on Substrate.
- Unification of EVM and Substrate account storage, including standardization to 18 decimal places for balances.
- Significant performance improvements to RPC and publish/subscribe endpoints based on a faster backend storage system.
- Use of a new consecutive range of identifiers to correctly distinguish between different Moonbeam-based networks.
- Support for Ethereum compatible H160 accounts and ECDSA keys in PolkadotJs.
- Introduction of Moonbase Alpha in the PolkadotJs Apps Network drop-down list.
- Compatibility fixes for MetaMask, Remix, Ethers.js, and many other bug fixes.
Moonbeam Alpha was created for development purposes; the engineering team will continue to develop and improve it. More information on Moonbase Alpha, including the features currently available, can be found on the project documentation site and this blog post.
Learn how to get started by joining our Discord or visiting the project website: moonbeam.network.
About the 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 early 2021. Learn more: https://moonbeam.network/
About PureStake
PureStake’s team has extensive experience building technology companies and complex software platforms. Led by Derek Yoo, former Fuze Founder, and CTO, PureStake provides protocol implementation services and creates developer tools for next-generation blockchain networks. Learn more: https://www.purestake.com/.
