Moonbeam Ecosystem: Awaiting moment of thrive

In this article, we will deep dive into Moonbeam ecosystem, including:

• The current situation and Moonbeam accomplishments.
• An overview of the Moonbeam ecosystem.
• Analysis of each sector in the Moonbeam ecosystem.
• Prediction and investment opportunities.

Let’s get started! 

Moonbeam Network Overview 

What is Moonbeam Network (GLMR)? 

Moonbeam is a full Ethereum-like environment and works with industry-standard Ethereum tools, DApps, and protocols. Moonbeam is onboarded as a parachain to Polkadot on December 17th, 2021.

Moonbeam will be an Ethereum compatible smart-contract parachain in the Polkadot ecosystem, allowing developers to port their projects with minimal to no code changes and enabling them to tap into the Polkadot ecosystem and all its assets.

Moonbeam Highlights

• Decentralized and permissionless, ensuring censorship resistance and support for a wide range of current and future DApp use cases. 
• Contains a Full EVM Implementation, enabling Solidity-based smart contracts to be migrated with minimal changes and with expected execution results.
• Compatible with the Substrate Ecosystem Toolset, including block explorers, front-end development libraries, and wallets, allowing developers and users to use the right tool for what they are trying to accomplish.
• Native Cross-Chain Integration via the Polkadot network and via token bridges, which allows for token movement, state visibility, and message passing with Ethereum and other chains.
• On-Chain Governance to allow stakeholders to quickly and forklessly evolve the base protocol according to developer and community needs.

For many developers and projects, an Ethereum-compatible smart contract approach will be much simpler and faster. And by building these smart contracts on Moonbeam, developers can still integrate with other chains and get value from Polkadot-based network effects.

Moonbeam Highlighted Numbers 

(Updated April 2, 2022) 

• Decimals: 18
• Holders: 144,741
• Total Transactions: 3.93M
• Block Time: 12.4s
• Block Height: 732,597
• Total Staking: 113.901M (11.2%)
• Market Cap: $835,781,199
• Fully Diluted Cap: 1.013B

Investors & Partners

Q3 2020: Moonbeam (also Moonriver) raised 1.4M in the seed round led by Hypersphere Ventures, a venture firm focused on Polkadot founded by Polkadot co-founder Robert Habermeier.

Other notable participants include Arrington XRP Capital, HashKey, KR1, Bitcoin.com Exchange, and Du Capital.

March 3, 2021: Moonbeam was funded 6M in a strategic round. The primary investor was CoinFund, but it also included participation from Binance Labs, ParaFi, Coinbase Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, and IOSG Ventures.

Roadmap & Current Situation 

Moonbeam Network has come a long way and achieved many memorable milestones:

• September 2020: Moonbase Alpha Testnet Launch.
• June 2021: Moonriver, the sister network of Moonbeam, launched on Kusama.
• December 2021: Moonbeam won the Parachain Auction Slot on Polkadot, marking it the second winner with the highest number of contributors (~200,000) and the highest amount of DOT staked (~$1B). 
• January 2022: Moonbeam launched on the Polkadot Relay Chain. 

Acala, Astar Network, and Moonbeam are three of the parachains that have drawn the most interest from the community. Moonbeam can be viewed as the world of EVM-based dApps that will help kickstart this ecosystem to a higher level because of its vibrant dApps already existing in Moonriver, its sister network.

About Moonbeam Ecosystem

Moonriver’s early deployment of dApps on Moonbeam has resulted in an ecosystem with some of the most vibrant dApps, with the total TVL has just passed the $120 million mark recently.

For the answer, let’s delve into each layer of the Moonbeam ecosystem to see what’s going on.

DEX

We will begin with the DEX sector on Moonbeam. 

StellaSwap: With nearly $45M in TVL, StellaSwap is the leading DEX in terms of TVL on Moonbeam. StellaSwap aspires to be a DeFi Gateway protocol that provides many of the necessary DeFi features. It has a “Zap” feature, similar to TraderJoe, where users can convert single-asset tokens directly into LP Tokens with a single click.

The offered APR is also no longer enticing, ranging from 20–120%. This protocol used to be worth $140M TVL in late January, but it has now dropped more than threefold since then.

BeamSwap: A DEX that also aspires to be a DeFi Hub on Moonbeam. It currently holds more than $21 million TVL.

It also had more than $95 million TVL in late January, but it plummeted sharply after that, with only $21 million remaining.

From 20% for stablecoin pairs to nearly 150% for the GLMR-USDC pairs, the yield is no longer fertile at this point of time.

Zenlink: A cross-chain DEX that is now available on Moonriver and the Moonbeam Network. The total value locked on two chains is $30.6M, with Moonbeam accounting for $16.8M of that. The overall TVL has also plummeted since January.

Despite ranking third in terms of TVL on Moonbeam, Zenlink provides a plethora of liquidity pairs for users to farm, including the FRAX, FXS, madDAI, MOVR, BNC, and many more tokens.

Solarflare: A DEX currently holds $7.6M TVL. Solarflare also provides vetoken (vFLARE) with a lockup period ranging from 7 days (minimum) to 4 years (maximum).

Moonbeam’s DEX array includes other faces like Convergence, Clipper, Curve, Synapse, PadSwap, etc. The majority of TVLs in these protocols are less than $2 million.

To summarize, there are a large number of DEXs on Moonbeam now, but the majority are inefficient due to the dramatic decrease in TVL from January until today. The slump, in particular, happened more than three times its initial TVL. It can be explained that users have been pouring into this parachain since the mainnet day on Polkadot in search of the juicy yield. However, once the yields became unappealing, they began to withdraw from this ecosystem, leaving a large number of DEXs with a deplorable TVL.

Similar to well-known protocols with high TVLs on other chains such as Curve and Synapse’s, their mere existence isn’t enough to entice incentive to invest into the ecosystem. You can see the TVL in Moonbeam on these two DEXs is less than $300,000, for example.

Lending

Except for Minterest and Moonwell, none of the dApps in the lending sector are currently operational. Minterest recently completed the Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool process, raising $5.5M at a closing price of $5.29 per MNT token.

Moonwell is the second protocol that has recently completed its token sale. Moonwell is running two products in parallel on two parachains. Apollo is currently on Moonriver, while Artemis is on Moonbeam (Artemis is still in development).

Because the two current lending protocols on Moonbeam are still in the token sale phase, this sector is still in its infancy. Lending is an important component in order to generate cash flow and increase the overall ecosystem’s capital efficiency. Therefore, pay close attention to the lending segment in Moonbeam in the future if you aim to seek the high yields offered by lending dApps in their early stages, particularly Minterest and Artemis.

Stablecoin

According to Moonscan, I have collected the market value of each stablecoin as follows: 

• USDC: $50.3M
• FRAX: $21.8M 
• USDT: $12.4M
• BUSD: $9.3M 
• DAI: $2.7M
• UST: $2.3M 

The total value in stablecoins is $99 million, which is not bad for a parachain that only launched its mainnet in mid-January this year (the amount is nearly equal to that of Astar Network).

This amount of stablecoin, however, also reflects the fact that there has not been a large cash flow to help the ecosystem thrive at this time. However, there is a point here where FRAX, a fractional-algorithmic stablecoin, is enjoying a good position in the Moonbeam ecosystem, even doubling USDT’s market share in Moonbeam. As can be seen, FRAX Finance and Moonbeam have a positive relationship, and more protocols are expected to integrate the FRAX stablecoin in the future.

Yield Aggregator

Beefy Finance: A well-known multi-chain yield optimizer operating in 14 ecosystems. It now has over 29 pools for users to choose from in order to maximize their yield. The majority of the pools are from StellaSwap, Solarflare, and BeamSwap. The APY offered ranges between 20% and 1300%.

Beefy’s TVL on Moonbeam is currently ranked 10th, with a value of more than $4M.

Pickle Finance: A multi-chain yield aggregator is also now operational on ten chains. Pickle Finance’s TVL on Moonbeam is around $500K.

Astral Financial: A yield optimizer that is solely focused on Moonbeam. However, the protocol’s traction is very low, as evidenced by the TVL of $39K and a Twitter following of only about 32 users. If you want to give it a shot, make sure it’s reliable!

In general, the Yield Aggregator array’s success is principally dependent on the success of the DEX sector. As a result, DEXs must have a large number of transactions and TVL to be able to enrich the number of pools in Yield Optimizer Protocols.

From this viewpoint, it is clear that these sectors remain quite bleak, as the DEXs on the ecosystem have all recently experienced a sharp drop in TVL.

Options/Predicitons

Polkamarkets is currently the only candidate in the prediction segment. This is a cross-chain protocol that is currently available on the Moonriver, Moonbeam, and Ethereum blockchains. The total TVL is only $62K. As I previously stated, as long as DEX and the money market are well-developed, other stacks within one ecosystem can thrive.

Bridge

Asset transfers between Moonbeam and other ecosystems are currently possible via cBridge, Multichain, Connext, Satellite, and StellaSwap DEX. StellaSwap DEX also provides an interface through which users can transfer assets directly from its page. Satellite Bridge, in particular, was created by Axelar Network, a zone in Cosmos.

The Bridge function on the page includes Stella’s native bridge and a shortcut that takes users to Satellite, cBridge, and Multichain.

Currently, cBridge has the largest TVL on Moonbeam in terms of bridge, but the TVL of Moonbeam in this protocol is only ranked 11th when compared to other ecosystems.

In addition, Astar Network has the highest TVL on cBridge, despite being the third winner of the Polkadot Parachain Auction (won after Moonbeam). Astar has taken the lead in the race.

NFT & NFT Marketplace 

NFT collectibles have begun to appear, setting the stage for the upcoming wave of NFTs on this parachain. Bored Apes, Punks, and Bots are just a few examples of the many NFT forks that exist. Collectible items are common in new ecosystems because they are easier to make than Dapps, and the return on investment for builders or flippers of these projects is extremely high.

Exiled Racers, the first high-fidelity 3D NFT project with a bonus racing manager game built on the Moonbeam Network, is another notable NFT project that you should keep an eye on. Those who purchase an EXR NFT will also be given access to the EXR racing manager game as a bonus. In April, the minting will begin, so keep an eye out for projects like Exiled Racers.

About the NFT Marketplace, TofuNFT, a multi-chain NFT Marketplace, has the highest traded volume on Moonbeam.

Moonbeans is another interesting NFT platform that is solely focused on Moonbeam. This project, however, is still in its beta phase.

In the coming days, we will also see new names such as NFTrade.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure projects in the Moonbeam Network ecosystem include:

• Oracle: Chainlink, Band Protocol, DIA, Razor, Convergence, etc have been integrated to Moonbeam Network for the price feed and necessary on-chain data. 
• Explorer: Subscan, Moonscan, Blockscout, Expedition and Polkadot.js. These explorers have aided users in easily tracking transactions and information. Users can also view charts that display information such as total wallet addresses, total transaction fees, and so on.
• Wallet: The most popular wallets in this ecosystem are Polkadot.js, Metamask and Math Wallet. Users from EVM chains, on the other hand, will prefer Metamask to interact with Dapps on Moonbeam.
• Other tools: The Graph, SubQuery, Covalent, API3, Biconomy will serve as the integration with data indexing solutions on Moonbeam Network. 

There is now a fully functional Moonbeam Network infrastructure in place. Ethereum’s tools and infrastructure can be easily integrated with the Moonbeam Network through its provided EVM-compatible smart contracts. The infrastructure firm behind Moonbeam is PureStake, as previously mentioned. Because of this, I believe Moonbeam’s infrastructure sector is well-developed.

Moonbeam Ecosystem Predictions

Following two months of having a large amount of cash flow poured into it, the money in this ecosystem began to decline rapidly, with a three to five-fold reduction in TVL. An exploratory action can be defined as an early-stage investor’s search for a high-yielding yield source in the new mainnet ecosystem. When reward levels fall, cash is immediately withdrawn in large amounts, because there are no new sectors to maintain its current cash flow.

Therefore, the prerequisite for this parachain revival will be reflected in DEXs, because this is always the first segment to receive the cash flow back.

As a matter of fact, in the crypto world, community is an essential metric for every project in any industry. In order to attract the money flow back, Moonbeam needs a well-thought-out marketing strategy. The fact that Moonbeam had the most contributors to the previous Polkadot Parachain Auction gives them an advantage over the competition, in my opinion

The Moonbeam team is working hard on Twitter to build a community by hosting AMA sessions with projects in the ecosystem. As a result, if the proper development strategy can be used to help the ecosystem grow, many contributors will begin to return and support Moonbeam, allowing this ecosystem to grow and have a network effect in the market.

Many more protocols covering all sectors will be available on Moonbeam in the future. It’s possible that Moonbeam is just at a phase of gaining momentum, and that this ecosystem will continue to see an influx of new Dapps emerge. Some Dapps may be brand new, while others may have been ported over from other EVM chains (such as SushiSwap, Beefy, etc.).

Newcomers are likely to emerge in the DEX, lending, or advanced sectors like Algorithmic Stable Coin, Yield Aggregators, Derivatives and Options, Predictions and so forth. A closer look at this ecosystem will reveal that there are a number of ways to benefit from the missing pieces.

In the following chapter, I’ll make some predictions about investment opportunities.

Investment Opportunities with Moonbeam Ecosystem

Token Investment

In the past, contributors who locked DOT into the Moonbeam Crowdloan received free GLMR tokens proportionally as a reward for their contribution.

According to this diagram, those who choose to lock DOT into the Moonbeam Network during Polkadot’s auction batch 1 will receive the second highest rewards, with a ROI of $18.76 per DOT, trailing Clover ($10) and Acala ($8.3).

So Moonbeam’s contributors had a great ROI, but this result shows that now is not the best time for newcomers to buy GLMR coins, because we are in a different position than those who are receiving a free GLMR (contributors).

However, I believe there will be a return of money flow to this parachain, since the native GLMR coins will be the first to benefit from this event, implying that it still has its upside. However, the expectation of the upside may not include a massive profit because the positions of new buyers differ from those of contributors. 

Skin in the game & Retroactive Opportunities

Moonbeam is a parachain that has only been on the mainnet for nearly two months, so there is still plenty of time for you to get involved in this new ecosystem.

The yield on the DEX sector is no longer appealing because a large amount of money has previously been poured into these two protocols and then poured out after the rewards have decreased. So, what we should be looking for now is the development of new protocols that will be launched into this ecosystem.

Users will benefit from the abundant yield offered by protocol competition only when multiple DEXs and lending protocols compete in an ecosystem.

Furthermore, when a new project is released, you may be able to take full advantage of being early adopters/users or having skin in the game by participating in the testnet and providing feedback to the project. I believe your efforts will be rewarded if you truly contribute to the project’s development.

Launchpad is another potential area, but we have yet to see Launchpad’s presence in this ecosystem. As a result, when the first Launchpad appears on Moonbeam in the future, you can also hold a small number of Launchpad tokens in order to participate in IDO rounds and earn a high ROI.

However, keep in mind that not all launchpads perform well. We’ve all seen projects completed with IDO that resulted in a negative ROI for investors. As a result, before making any decisions, I recommend that you conduct extensive research on that project.

NFT 

There hasn’t been any notable innovation in the Moonbeam NFT market. Investing in NFT collectibles should be done with extreme caution because the risk of burying capital is very high if the cash flow is not yet poured into this ecosystem. Invest in this sector only when the NFT market thrives and the ecosystem gains traction.

But, as I previously stated, there is one project that you should keep an eye on: Exiled Racers. The Moonbeam team has given this project its full support. That is also a sign that you should be aware of.

Conclusion 

Here are a few of my quick summaries:

• Moonbeam Network is an EVM-compatible hub on Polkadot that is suitable for existing developers and projects on EVM Chains or those who want to build a network on both Polkadot and EVM Chains. 
• Moonbeam is currently lagging behind the Astar Network. This is reflected in the TVL of the entire ecosystem as compared to Astar. However, I think this situation will change in the future. 
• The fundamental DeFi projects like DEX are already available but not yet mature. The lending sector is still in its infancy. I’m looking to see the plethora of different new protocols appear in the future.
• You should look for retroactive opportunities from the ecosystem’s missing pieces, especially in this relatively new ecosystem. It could come from new Dapps in existing sectors or in brand new sectors in this ecosystem, such as yield staking, launchpad, derivatives, and so on.

What are your thoughts on the Moonbeam ecosystem? Please leave a comment below to further discuss with Pandoraland Insights!

The information in this article is provided solely for informational purposes and should not be considered investment advice. Investing in cryptocurrencies involves a high level of risk, and you should only invest what you are willing to lose.