PureStake raises $1.4 million to launch Ethereum-compatible network on Polkadot

Blockchain startup PureStake has raised $1.4 million in seed funding to launch Moonbeam Network — the Ethereum-compatible smart contract platform built on top of Polkadot.

The seed round was led by Hypersphere Ventures, Polkadot co-founder Robert Habermeier’s venture firm, with participation from Arrington XRP Capital, HashKey, and Bitcoin.com Exchange, among others.

Moonbeam is a Polkadot parachain, Katie Butler, director of marketing at PureStake, told The Block, adding that it is focused on making it easy for Ethereum developers to deploy existing smart contracts to a Polkadot-based environment. It means Ethereum developers can use the same developer tools and code they already use and can get access to the Polkadot ecosystem, said Butler.

Moonbeam launched its first testnet earlier this year and expects to deliver a parachain deployment on Polkadot in Q2 2021. Esports betting protocol BetProtocol and cross-chain synthetic asset protocol Linear Finance will be leveraging Moonbeam smart contracts.

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