The momentum continues for Moonbeam with a series of major developments and achievements in March! Let’s dive into the highlights from another exceptional month. 🚀
TL;DR
- Runtime 2800 Upgrade: 6-second block times enabled by asynchronous backing on Moonbase Alpha.
- Mean Finance DCA on Moonbeam: Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) tool integrated for asset accumulation.
- $PINK Distribution & StellaSwap: Community allocation airdrop and DEX integration.
- ETH Denver Hackathon Winners: Cross-chain dApp building rewarded with bounties!
- Grants Committee Election Results: New members were elected in technical, DeFi, ecosystem, and business roles!
Runtime 2800 Brings 6-Second Blocks
A major milestone for the Moonbeam ecosystem, Runtime Upgrade 2800 (RT2800) delivered the long-awaited 6-second block times enabled by asynchronous backing on the Moonbase Alpha TestNet. By parallelizing transaction validation and block production, throughput increased by 2x compared to the previous 12-second cadence.
While this upgrade unlocks new possibilities for time-sensitive dApps, developers and infrastructure engineers must prepare for implications like application updates, increased infrastructure load, etc. Thorough testing on Moonbase Alpha is highly recommended before the eventual rollout to Moonriver and Moonbeam (tentatively in RT2900 and RT3000).
Mean Finance Integrates DCA on Moonbeam
In an exciting integration, Mean Finance’s powerful Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) tool is now live on Moonbeam! This allows users to effortlessly accumulate assets over time, promoting discipline and resilience through automated recurring buys.
With Moonbeam’s EVM compatibility and scalability within the Polkadot ecosystem, Mean Finance’s DCA feature offers an enhanced investment experience combining simplicity, security, and flexibility. Users can now set up hassle-free recurring token swaps on Moonbeam with just a few clicks.
$PINK Airdrop and StellaSwap Integration
The $PINK meme coin allocation to the Moonbeam community was successfully completed! OGs, Airlyft participants, and other engaged members received their share of the airdrop.
In celebration, StellaSwap—Moonbeam’s largest DEX by TVL—turned its entire dApp interface pink! The leading DEX also distributes its $PINK allocation to liquidity providers and engaged community members.
ETH Denver Hackathon: Cross-Chain Winners
At ETH Denver 2024, developers showcased their cross-chain capabilities by building dApps utilizing Moonbeam as the sending or receiving chain. Croslend (lending), Governable (governance), and Venus (NFTs & AI) were the top three winning projects, each receiving bounties for their innovative solutions.
Grants Committee Election Results
The voting for Season 4 of Moonbeam’s Grants Committee Election has wrapped up, and the results are in! Representing the community’s choice, the newly elected non-Foundation members are:
- Technical Experts: Marin Enault and Moskau
- DeFi Expert: Andrew Liffey
- Ecosystem Expert: Jim Farley
- Business Experts: Rafael Yahlomi and Julio Perez Cabrera
The election process was finalized last week, and these members began their term alongside the Moonbeam Foundation representatives on April 1st. Among the newly elected is Marin Enault, the CTO of Great Escape, a game development studio. With a game developer’s perspective on the committee, other gaming projects have a great opportunity for valuable feedback and insights during the application process. Andrew Liffey, widely recognized as “The DeFi Guy” with thousands of active followers, brings his extensive DeFi expertise. DeFi projects are welcome to leverage his deep domain knowledge when applying for grants.
The new committee comprises influential community members and subject matter experts who will drive the Grants Program forward with their diverse backgrounds and insights.
This diverse committee will oversee and drive the Grants Program forward alongside the Moonbeam Foundation representatives.
Other Notable Updates
- Moonbeam was highlighted as one of the first chains supported by Coinbase Wallet’s new in-app subscription service.
- SubQuery built a unified data indexing solution capable of querying EVM logs and Substrate events across Moonbeam and Moonriver.
- The “10 Powerful Tools” blog showcased top developer resources unlocking innovation on Moonbeam.
The Moonbeam universe continues expanding at an incredible pace! With game-changing upgrades, flourishing partnerships, and a rapidly growing ecosystem, the future looks brighter than ever.
