Beam (BEAM) is a privacy-focused proof-of-work blockchain launched on January 3, 2019 — the tenth anniversary of the Bitcoin genesis block — that implements the MimbleWimble protocol to provide confidential transactions by default: there are no addresses stored on-chain, transaction amounts are hidden using Pedersen commitments with range proofs, and the blockchain is compressible (Cut-Through) to reduce historical bloat while maintaining cryptographic validity.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | BEAM |
| Price | $0.02 |
| Market Cap | $4.10M |
| 24h Change | +3.5% |
| Circulating Supply | 197.94M BEAM |
| Max Supply | 262.80M BEAM |
| All-Time High | $4.28 |
| Contract (Ethereum) | 0xe5ac...f499 |
How It Works
- MimbleWimble — Beam’s foundational protocol. Transactions use Pedersen commitments (cryptographic blinding): outputs are represented as blinded values that can be added and subtracted without revealing amounts. No addresses are stored on the blockchain.
- Confidential transactions — Range proofs (Bulletproofs) ensure that committed transaction values are positive (preventing inflation exploits) without revealing the actual amounts.
- Cut-Through — Intermediate transaction outputs that have been spent can be removed from the chain, compressing blockchain size while preserving the overall balance validity.
- Interactive transaction building — MimbleWimble requires sender and receiver to exchange cryptographic data to build a transaction (no send-to-address like Bitcoin). Beam provides wallet infrastructure to handle this exchange.
- LelantusMW (Lelantus-MW) — Beam added an optional higher-privacy layer combining MimbleWimble with Lelantus (zero-knowledge proofs) to break transaction graph linkability further.
- BeamHash III — Beam’s mining algorithm is a modified Equihash variant designed to resist ASIC dominance and keep GPU miners competitive.
- Treasury — For the first 5 years, 20% of block rewards went to a Treasury controlled by Beam’s development company (Beam Ltd./Foundation). After year 5, Treasury emissions ended.
Tokenomics
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | BEAM |
| Max Supply | 262,800,000 (~262.8 million) |
| Consensus | BeamHash III (Equihash-based GPU PoW) |
| Launch | January 3, 2019 |
| Privacy mechanism | MimbleWimble (Pedersen commitments + Cut-Through) |
| Block time | 60 seconds |
| Treasury | 20% of block rewards — Years 1–5 only |
| Premine | None |
| Emission | Halving schedule similar to Bitcoin (every 4 years) |
Use Cases
- Private value transfer — Confidential transactions hide amounts; no addresses on-chain.
- Mining — GPU mining with BeamHash III algorithm.
- DeFi (Beam’s roadmap) — Beam has pursued optional smart contracts via “Beam Shaders” — WASM-based smart contract modules for confidential DeFi.
- Atomic swaps — Cross-chain atomic swaps with Bitcoin were a stated roadmap feature.
History
- 2019-01-03 — Beam mainnet launches, coinciding with Bitcoin’s 10th anniversary (genesis block date). First production MimbleWimble chain — launching days before Grin.
- 2019 — Grin launches January 15, 2019. Media compares the two MimbleWimble implementations: Beam (company-backed, more user-friendly, treasury model) vs. Grin (fully open source, no company, linear supply).
- 2019 — Beam adds Atomic Swaps with Bitcoin on testnet.
- 2020-01 — Hard fork to BeamHash II mining algorithm. Further ASIC resistance improvements.
- 2021-05 — Hard fork to BeamHash III. Lelantus-MW integration added for enhanced privacy.
- 2022 — Beam Foundation created. Treasury emissions wind down as the 5-year schedule progresses.
- 2023 — Beam Shaders (smart contract framework) development continues. Beam pursues confidential DeFi narrative.
- 2024 — Treasury period ends (5 years since launch). 100% of block rewards now go to miners.
Common Misconceptions
“Beam and Grin are the same project.”
Both implement MimbleWimble but are entirely separate projects with different teams, codebases, tokenomics, and philosophies. Grin is a community-led open source project with no company and linear (inflationary) supply. Beam was launched by Beam Ltd. (Israeli company) with a corporate structure, treasury, and fixed max supply.
“No addresses means impossible to receive payments.”
Beam uses wallet-to-wallet communication to build transactions interactively. Users share a “wallet address” that is a public key used to initiate the offline exchange, not stored on the blockchain. The user experience can be similar to traditional wallets with appropriate software.
Social Media Sentiment
Beam has a dedicated privacy-first community. It is often compared to Grin and Monero. Crypto researchers cite Beam as technically sophisticated; the BeamHash III resistance to ASICs is well-regarded. Market cap and transaction volume remain modest relative to Monero. The launch of Beam Shaders for confidential DeFi attracted developer interest.
Last updated: 2026-04