Axelar announces plans to integrate Moonbeam into its decentralized network of interconnected chains to connect Polkadot with other blockchain ecosystems. This integration will enable developers on Moonbeam to work with Bitcoin and assets from Ethereum, Terra, and other ecosystems integrated with Axelar Network.

“Polkadot is gaining traction with a lot of projects, and Moonbeam will be the parachain of choice for Polkadot builders who want to leverage the EVM developer experience,” says Sergey Gorbunov, co-founder and CEO of Axelar.

Axelar is dedicated to providing scaled cross-chain interoperability across all blockchains, with the Polkadot ecosystem being an exciting new integration. Users will be able to move assets from external chains to Moonbeam and use them in dApps. Through the Axelar universal cross-chain communication gateway, applications on the Moonbeam network will be able to compose with applications on Ethereum, Terra, and other chains.

Moonbeam is rapidly becoming a DeFi hub in the Polkadot ecosystem through partnerships with major DeFi projects, including Sushiswap, IDEX, and Linear Finance. Moonbeam’s full Ethereum compatibility allows developers to benefit from the composability and speed of the Polkadot ecosystem. Both Moonbeam and Axelar are building innovative solutions to break down blockchain silos and unlock the potential of increased liquidity across networks.

“In an increasingly multi-chain environment, cross chain boundaries create barriers for decentralized application developers. Through the integration with Axelar, Moonbeam developers can work across blockchain boundaries and service non-Polkadot based assets in a secure way,” says Derek Yoo, CEO of PureStake and Founder of the Moonbeam project. “Axelar broadens the scope of multi-chain applications built on Moonbeam.”

The Polkadot community has long recognized the need for interoperability within its ecosystem across parachains, and Axelar is expanding on this vision by connecting Polkadot with other major ecosystems.

About Moonbeam

Moonbeam is an Ethereum-compatible smart contract platform on the Polkadot network that makes it easy to build natively interoperable applications. This Ethereum compatibility allows developers to deploy existing Solidity smart contracts and DApp frontends to Moonbeam with minimal changes. As a parachain on the Polkadot network, Moonbeam will benefit from the shared security of the Polkadot relay chain and integrations with other chains that are connected to Polkadot. Currently, in active development by PureStake, Moonbeam is expected to reach MainNet by mid-2021. Learn more: https://moonbeam.network/.

About PureStake

PureStake’s team has extensive experience building technology companies and complex software platforms. Led by Derek Yoo, former Fuze Founder and CTO, PureStake provides protocol implementation services and creates developer tools for next-generation blockchain networks. Learn more: https://www.purestake.com/.

About Axelar

Axelar provides a decentralized network and tools that help connect dApp builders with multiple blockchain ecosystems, applications, and users for frictionless cross-chain communication. Axelar consists of a protocol suite, tools, and APIs, designed to break down the barriers to cross-chain communication. Powered by a decentralized open network of validators; anyone can join the network, use it, and build on it. The Axelar network makes cross-chain communication as simple as using HTTP/HTTPS protocols on the web. Platform developers can plug-in their blockchains to other ecosystems, and application builders can leverage a simple protocol and API to access global liquidity and communicate with the entire ecosystem. The Axelar team has deep roots in distributed systems, consensus, and cryptography. The venture is backed by Binance X, Coinbase Ventures, DCVC, Lemniscap, Collab+Currency, North Island Ventures, Divergence Ventures, Cygni Labs, and others.

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Axelar is Expanding to Polkadot by Integrating with the Moonbeam Network was originally published in Axelar on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.