Moonbeam is an EVM-compatible blockchain that runs as a parachain on the Polkadot network. Compatibility with EVM allows Ethereum-based applications to be deployed on Moonbeam.
The network provides developers with features such as deploying Solidity smart contracts, Web3-compatible APIs, oracle data, and Ethernet bridges.

GLMR is Moonbeam's utility and governance token with the following use cases:
Transaction Fees: Users can use GLMR to pay transaction fees and execute smart contracts.
Mortgage: Users can mortgage GLMR to become a validator or delegate, participate in the network consensus, and get rewards from GLMR.
Governance: GLMR token holders are able to nominate council members and participate in voting on the network.
Liquidity mining: Provide liquidity for the decentralized exchange (DEX) built on the Moonbeam blockchain to earn part of the exchange's fees.

Moonbeam consists of the following main components:
Polkadot: Polkadot aims to assist cross-chain communication and interoperability. Moonbeam is the Polkadot ecosystem version of Moonriver (MOVR) in the Kusama ecosystem.
Parachains: Parachains are independent blockchains (Shards) that can be connected to Polkadot.
Crowdfunding Loans: It is the method by which projects fundraise for a parachain slot on the Polkadot network. Users temporarily lock up their DOTs in exchange for rewards from the project team, usually in the form of the project's native token.
Slot Auction: For a project to operate as a parachain on Polkadot, it must win a slot in a parachain auction. Moonbeam has won a place in the second slot auction through crowdfunding, which will run for 96 weeks starting on December 17, 2021.
The project raised ~36MM DOT tokens from ~200K contributors in a crowdfunding loan for the Moonbeam parachain slot auction.