Introduction¶

As a decentralized smart contract platform, Moonbeam requires a utility token to function.

This token is central to the design of Moonbeam and cannot be removed without sacrificing essential functionality. The Moonbeam token uses 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 network transaction fees

Glimmer Token¶

In the Moonbeam deployment on Polkadot MainNet, this token is called Glimmer, as in, “that smart contract call will cost 0.3 Glimmer.” The token symbol is GLMR.

You can find more information about Glimmer on the Moonbeam Foundation website.

Moonriver Token¶

In the Moonbeam deployment on Kusama (called Moonriver), this token is called Moonriver, as in, “that smart contract call will cost 0.003 Moonriver.” The token symbol will be MOVR.

You can find more information about Moonriver on the Moonbeam Foundation website.

DEV Token¶

In the Moonbeam TestNet (called Moonbase Alpha), the token is called DEV. This token can be acquired freely, as its only purpose is to drive development and testing on Moonbase Alpha.

You can get DEV tokens for testing on Moonbase Alpha once every 24 hours from the Moonbase Alpha Faucet.