How to Contribute to the Moonbeam Crowdloan Using the Web App

Before Participating in the Moonbeam Crowdloan

DOT holders have three ways to participate in the Moonbeam crowdloan: via the Moonbeam Foundation application, participating exchanges, and select wallets. If you plan to use a participating exchange, please refer to their instructions. Participating via the Moonbeam Foundation application will give you the most flexibility regarding when you can claim your crowdloan rewards. If you are participating through the Moonbeam Foundation dApp, the easiest and recommended way to participate is via an account in the Polkadot.Js Extension.

Users who plan to participate in the Moonbeam crowdloan via the Moonbeam Foundation dApp, need to agree to the Moonbeam Crowdloan Terms and Conditions with their DOT address before contributing to the crowdloan. If you’ve not done so yet, you’ll be prompted to accept the terms and conditions in the Moonbeam Foundation dApp before contributing or you can complete the pre-registration application. You can also follow this tutorial that will help you along the way.

If you’ve already pre-registered, you are ready to contribute to the Moonbeam crowdloan! To do so, make sure you are holding your unlocked DOT tokens on the Polkadot address you’ve pre-registered with. Please note the account must have enough tokens to cover the transaction fees related to the crowdloan (a maximum of 0.07 DOT), plus the DOT you want to contribute. Adding up the transaction fee, the minimum crowdloan contribution amount (5 DOT), and the existential deposit (1 DOT) means that you should have at least 6.07 DOT in your Polkadot.js account.

A key feature that enables Moonbeam’s unrivaled Ethereum compatibility is the use of a unified account system. Moonbeam uses native Ethereum-style accounts. Crowdloan contributors must provide a Moonbeam/Ethereum account in order to receive crowdloan rewards. If you don’t have one, you can follow this guide on how to create a Moonbeam/Ethereum address.

This tutorial will guide you through how you can participate in the Moonbeam crowdloan using the Moonbeam Foundation application. The steps described in this guide are not necessary if you are participating in the Moonbeam crowdloan via an exchange, as you will use their interface.

Participating in the Moonbeam Crowdloan

First, make sure you have an account imported into the Polkadot.js extension. If you don’t have the Polkadot.js extension installed, you can download it here. This account should contain at least 6.07 DOT; enough funds to pay for the transaction fees (around 0.07 DOT), plus the tokens you want to contribute to the crowdloan itself, leaving at least 1 DOT in the account to cover the existential deposit. Note, that the minimum contribution is set by Polkadot to 5 DOT.

Next, visit the crowdloan site via this link: https://crowdloan.moonbeam.foundation/ — Please verify that you are at the correct URL. The link will take you to the Moonbeam crowdloan website. On the welcome page, take the following steps:

1. Review the information.
2. Once reviewed, click the “Start” button.

The next page takes you through the steps of importing your Polkadot.js extension accounts. To do so, take the following steps:

1. Click on the “Connect to Polkadot{.js}” button. The extension will show a pop-up window asking you to authorize the application.
2. Verify the URL of the application you are granting access to the Polkadot.js extension. It should start with https://crowdloan.moonbeam.foundation/ — if this is not the case, please contact the Moonbeam Foundation team at crowdloan@moonbeam.foundation.
3. Once you’ve verified the URL, click on “Yes, allow this application access” — This allows the application to fetch your account information and also use the Polkadot.js extension to sign transactions.

The application will load all accounts in the Polkadot.js extension that are set up to work with Polkadot. If your account is not loading, make sure you’ve set it up with the “Allow use on any chain” or “Polkadot Relay Chain” option. If the pop-up is not showing up, take the following steps:

1. Click on the “Gear” icon to open the extension settings.
2. Select the “Manage Website Access” option.
3. Allow crowdloan.moonbeam.foundation — Double check the website URL before allowing it.

Once your accounts have loaded, read the page’s instructions and take the following steps:

1. Select the account with which you want to participate in the crowdloan. The account must be the same you used to agree to the Moonbeam Crowdloan Terms and Conditions.
2. With the proper account selected, click on the “Verify account” button. A Polkadot.js extension pop-up window will appear asking you to sign a message.
3. In the window, verify the URL of the application from which the signature is being requested. It should start with https://crowdloan.moonbeam.foundation/ — if this is not the case, please contact the Moonbeam Foundation team at crowdloan@moonbeam.foundation.
4. Enter your password.
5. Once you’ve reviewed all the information, click on “Sign the message.”
6. (Optional) If the account you have to participate with is not showing up, check your Polkadot.js extension and make sure it can be used on any chain or the Polkadot relay chain. Afterward, click on “Reload accounts.”

Note: If you look carefully in the above image you’ll see that the account numbers are different on the dApp and the Polkadot Js extension. That’s because the demo account in the extension is displayed as a generic substrate address allowed to work on any chain, while the dApp is accessing the Polkadot-format version of the same address. This is perfectly fine but if you prefer to see the same address, click on the button with the three dots and instead of “Allow use on any chain”, choose “Polkadot Relay Chain”.

By signing the message, you are logging into the crowdloan application with the selected Polkadot address. The application will verify whether this address has agreed to the Moonbeam Crowdloan Terms and Conditions as part of the pre-registration steps. If it has not, the application will prompt you to follow the pre-registration steps.

The next page outlines everything related to your Moonbeam crowdloan contribution. Also, it lists any previous contributions you’ve made. You are free to contribute multiple times using the same Polkadot address. Please note that all of your GLMR rewards will be sent to the last receiving address that you specify. Remember, DOT tokens used for contributions can only be transferred after the parachain slot lease ends or a parachain slot is not successfully obtained. Also note that, while locked, the DOT tokens are not accessible by the parachain project. Crowdloan contributions are performed via a special transaction and are different from transfers; be careful not to transfer funds to any address directly.

Moonbeam uses Ethereum-style addresses, so you can use an existing address for which you control the seed or private keys. If you specify an address at an exchange, you will lose all your funds. Click here for information on creating a receiving address. Note that using a non-compatible address might result in the loss of funds. On the contribution page, take the following steps:

1. Verify your DOT contribution address. This is where all of your DOT that you contribute to the crowdloan will come from.
2. Enter the amount of DOT tokens to contribute. The minimum amount is 5 DOT (minimum set by the Polkadot protocol). If you don’t enter any amount, 5 DOT will be set as the default.
3. Read the instructions regarding receiving addresses and ensure that your receiving address meets the requirements.
4. Copy and paste your Ethereum-style Moonbeam address where you’ll be receiving your GLMR. Please note that this must be an Ethereum-style address from which you hold the private key or seed. Make sure to read this tutorial on how to create a Moonbeam/Ethereum address.
5. Once you’ve reviewed all the information, click on “Sign and send.”
6. (Optional) If you want to change your account, click on the “Choose a different account” button. If the account you choose has not yet pre-registered, you’ll be prompted on the next page to complete the pre-registration steps.

Safety Note: make sure you hold the private keys of the Moonbeam address you provide. Do not use an unsupported hardware wallet. Remember to safely store your private key/mnemonic as it gives direct access to your funds. If you lose your private key/mnemonic or you use an exchange address, your GLMR will be lost forever.

After clicking the “Sign and send” button, the application will retrieve a signature needed to contribute to the Moonbeam crowdloan. Once your contribution transaction is ready to be signed, a Polkadot.js pop-up will appear. Here, take the following steps:

1. Verify the URL of the application from which the transaction is being requested. It should start with https://crowdloan.moonbeam.foundation/ — if this is not the case, please contact the Moonbeam Foundation team at crowdloan@moonbeam.foundation.
2. Enter your password.
3. Once you’ve reviewed all the information, click on “Sign the transaction.”

The transaction might take a minute to process. Once the transaction is successful, a screen will display the hash of your contribution transaction.

And that’s it! You’ve successfully contributed to the Moonbeam Crowdloan. You can click on the transaction hash to see your contribution transaction in a Polkadot blockchain explorer. You are free to make additional contributions to the crowdloan. If you make multiple contributions from the same account, your GLMR rewards will be sent to the last Ethereum-style address you’ve specified.

Your contribution originated from a DOT account, but all your GLMR rewards will be sent to the Ethereum-style account you’ve specified. Remember to keep the mnemonic seeds for both of these accounts because you’ll need access to these accounts to claim your DOT and GLMR.

 

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