What is Moonriver?

Moonriver is a layer 1 Ethereum-compatible parachain that’s connected to the Kusama network

Moonriver is a companion network to Moonbeam and provides a permanently incentivized canary network. New code ships to Moonriver first, where it can be tested and verified under real economic conditions. Once proven, the same code ships to Moonbeam on Polkadot.

The relationship between Polkadot and Kusama

Polkadot is seen as a layer 0 blockchain, the heart of a multi-chain where many different layer 1 blockchains (known as parachains) are built on it. The main purpose of Polkadot is to increase interoperability between different blockchains

Kusama is considered a sister network to Polkadot, acting as a public testing environment for Polkadot, where developers of projects can test and test new applications before releasing them to Polkadot.

The relationship between Moonriver and Moonbeam

Moonbeam is a layer 1 parachain built on Polkadot that provides smart contracts and interoperability with Ethereum. Moonbeam allows Ethereum developers to easily fork and deploy applications to the incredibly diverse Polkadot ecosystem.

Just as Kusama is a sister network to Polkadot, Moonriver is a sister network to Moonbeam Network. Moonbeam is the layer 1 blockchain on Polkadot, and Moonriver is the layer 1 blockchain on Kusama.

Moonriver will serve as a test environment allowing developers to test and test their products on Kusama before being launched to Moonbeam on Polkadot.

The outstanding advantages of Moonriver

Governance

Moonriver operates as a community-led network.

Community members will own a majority of the MOVR tokens on the network, giving them considerable control over the direction of the network.

Earlier Launch, Earlier Access

Moonriver receives code deployments earlier and launches to Kusama first. Developers have earlier access to Moonriver to start building, experimenting, and launching, and other participants can access DApps and assets on that chain.

An Easy On-Ramp to Kusama

Quickly deploy your new or existing Solidity DApps to the Moonriver parachain — with little or no modifications — and gain easy access to the Kusama network.

Complete Ethereum Compatibility

Like Moonbeam, Moonriver is a full Ethereum-like environment and works with industry-standard Ethereum tools, DApps, and protocols.

Moonriver minimizes the changes required to run existing Solidity smart contracts on the network. Ethereum projects can simply replicate their DApp and deploy it to Moonbeam using Hardhat, Truffle, Remix, and other popular deployment tools.

Moonriver Token

*Token Use Cases:

As a decentralized smart contract platform, Moonriver requires the MOVR token to function.

Some of the uses of the MOVR token on Moonriver include:

Supporting the gas metering of smart contract execution
Incentivizing collators and powering the mechanics around the creation of a decentralized node infrastructure on which the platform can run
Facilitating the on-chain governance mechanism including proposing referenda, electing council members, voting, etc
Paying for transaction fees on the network

*Key Metrics MOVR:

Token Name: Moonriver.
Ticker: MOVR.
Blockchain: Kusama
Token Standard: Updating…
Contract: Updating…
Token Type: Utility và Governance.
Circulating Supply: 4,005,028 MOVR
Total Supply: 10,317,209 MOVR.

Moonriver targets a 5% annual inflation rate and, as such, has an uncapped token supply.The purpose of inflation in Moonriver is to pay for ongoing security needs of the network.

*Token Allocation

When the Moonriver network launched, the total supply for MOVR tokens was 10 million. A portion of the network tokens has been reserved to ensure the network maintains a parachain slot on the Kusama network.

A significant portion of the network (30%) was fairly and permissionlessly distributed as part of the initial crowdloan. The remaining balance is distributed to teams building on Moonriver and held by the Moonbeam Foundation to support long-term protocol and network development. Notably, there is no “founders reward” and the PureStake team developing Moonriver does not own any of the tokens at network genesis.

Roadmap

● January 2020: Project Started

● July 2020: Awarded a W3F grant for Substrate-based Ethereum compatibility

features

● September 2020: Moonbase Alpha TestNet Launched

● October 2020: Publish-Subscribe Capabilities Added

● November 2020: Transforms Account Structure to Match Ethereum

● June 2021: Began Moonriver Launch on Kusama

● August 2021: Completed Moonriver Launch on Kusama

● December 2021: Began Moonbeam Launch on Polkadot

Team

The Moonbeam and Moonriver networks are built by PureStake, and funded by the Moonbeam Foundation. These organizations work in tandem to make founder Derek Yoo’s vision for a multi-chain future into a reality