Layer 1 blockchain
Beam ticker BEAM
Summary
BeamHash III proof of work with a one-minute block target secures a Mimblewimble ledger. By default amounts are hidden in commitments, no addresses are written to the chain, wallets build each transaction together, and transactions are relayed through Dandelion++. An optional Lelantus shielded pool (the wallet's maximum-privacy mode) hides which earlier output a spend came from, among up to 65,536 outputs; at review a public explorer node reported about 28,800 shielded outputs ever created, so the real set was smaller than that maximum. Ordinary transactions still expose which outputs were spent together, plus fees and timing, and amounts held in smart contracts are public. WebAssembly smart contracts (shaders) have run since the third hard fork. 12623253036
Design
- System
- Layer 1 blockchainBeam is its own proof-of-work chain launched in January 2019 and still secured by miners. A delegated proof-of-stake sidechain (Beam Warp) exists only on developer networks and does not change the main chain's class.
- Settlement family
- Its own design
- Scarce resource
- Work (proof of work)
- State model
- Mixed
- Finality
- Probabilistic
- Who makes blocks
- Miners propose blocks using GPU proof of work (BeamHash III). Difficulty retargets over a window of about 120 blocks. How concentrated mining pools are was not reviewed.
- Fork choice
- Nodes follow the valid chain with the greatest proven cumulative work. Nodes will not automatically roll back more than 1,440 blocks (about one day). A deeper competing chain would need manual action by the node operator.
Qualifications
- State model · Partial. Mostly a set of unspent Mimblewimble outputs that carry no addresses or scripts, plus a separate pool of shielded outputs and key-value storage held by contracts. No single model describes the whole ledger.
- Finality · Partial. Confirmations are probabilistic, but nodes refuse to roll back more than 1,440 blocks (about one day) on their own. This blocks very deep reorganizations on running nodes, but nodes could split if a longer competing chain ever appeared.
- Block explorer visibility · Partial. Explorers show blocks, kernels, fees, asset metadata, contracts and amounts locked in contracts. They show no addresses and no amounts for ordinary or shielded outputs, so an empty result is not a zero balance.
- Supply auditability · Partial. The total supply cannot be added up from public amounts; it depends on range proofs and kernel accounting being correct. After the 2026 range-proof flaw, a one-time disclosure of old output amounts was proposed but had not been adopted when this was reviewed.
- Throughput · Partial. Only a launch-era design estimate per block is recorded for the main chain. A transaction-rate target published for the Beam Warp sidechain describes that sidechain, which ran only on developer networks, not Beam itself, so it is not used.
- Settlement family · Partial. Beam runs its own node software, published by BeamMW, for a Mimblewimble ledger secured by BeamHash III proof of work, whose outputs carry no addresses or scripts, so its settlement family is recorded as other.
Tradeoffs
- Emphasizes
- Decentralization and Security
- Gives up
- Base-layer throughput and easy auditing. Blocks come once a minute and are capped at about 1 MB. Both wallets must exchange data to build a transaction. Because amounts are confidential, confidence in the total supply depends on the range proofs being correct, not on anyone adding up public balances.Privacy is a separate goal, not a corner of the trilemma. The 2026 emergency fork fixed a range-proof flaw that could in theory have allowed hidden inflation. Developers reported no sign that it was exploited, and a one-time disclosure step has been proposed so the supply can be checked. The security of a small proof-of-work chain also depends on how much hashrate it attracts, which was not reviewed.
- Full node at home
- Practical at home 515Beam's desktop wallet guide asks for about 10 GB of free disk, 5 GB of free RAM and a 64-bit processor to run its integrated node; the page is undated. A standard node drops most proof data for spent outputs after about a day and erases spent outputs after about six months of blocks; archive nodes keep everything. The chain's current size was not verified.
- Throughput claims
- Theoretical peak: 1,000 423Theoretical peak; not comparable across chains or with observed load.Transactions per one-minute block of about 1 MB, a design estimate from the launch-era mining documentation.Not stated.A design estimate, not a measured rate; the transaction size it assumes is not stated. Shielded, asset and contract transactions are larger, and shielded inputs and outputs have their own per-block caps. Ignores propagation, state growth and the storage that full blocks would add before older proof data is pruned.
Scaling layers
- Laser Beam · Payment channels, mainnet 82427
Two parties lock funds in a jointly signed output and exchange updated balances off-chain. Relative timelocks let the honest party claim funds if the other side publishes an outdated state, but only if that party is watching. Release notes warn that the command-line wallet must not stay offline for more than 24 hours while a channel is open. Multi-hop routing is not documented. - Beam Warp · Sidechain, testnet 3132
A delegated proof-of-stake sidechain: BEAMX holders stake through validators, and the same validators sign a two-way bridge. Deposits are locked on the main chain and mirrored on the sidechain; withdrawals are released by a validator multisignature. Bridge safety rests on that validator quorum, not on Beam's proof of work. As of April 2026 it ran only on developer networks, with no public testnet or mainnet date.
Capabilities
| Capability | How it is provided | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Account abstraction | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Atomic swaps | Core-team softwareLimited scope | Core-team software, limited: the official Beam desktop wallet, published by BeamMW (latest cited release 7.5.14493), runs cross-chain swaps with BTC, LTC, DASH, DOGE and ETH-based assets, among others, and the community Beam Smart Explorer lists swap offers. Each swap uses lock, redeem and refund transactions on both chains, and Beam kernels carry the hash locks and timelocks this needs. The limit: swaps with ETH-based assets require an Infura account. 1924272835 |
| Authenticated data publication | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
| Light clients | Built into the protocolLimited scope | Protocol, limited: the node protocol serves proofs for individual outputs and kernels against proof-of-work block headers (FlyClient code), and Mimblewimble cut-through lets new nodes skip most spent-output data. The mobile wallet can sync as a mobile node, sync fast from a random node, or connect to the user's own node. The limit: how fully the mobile mode checks headers was not verified. 51626 |
| Native staking or delegation | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| On-chain governance | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Parallel execution | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Payment or state channels | Partial (layer not stated) Earlier definition | Laser Beam two-party payment channels exist on mainnet in the command-line wallet only, and the wallet must stay online. Routing and usage were not verified. 827 |
| Programmable spending | Native (protocol or core-team software) Earlier definition | Kernels can carry hash locks and relative timelocks. Since the third hard fork (block 1,280,000), WebAssembly contracts called shaders can lock and release funds and create confidential assets. Amounts held by contracts are public; what stays hidden is which wallets the funds came from. 14232430 |
| Protocol-verified messaging | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Reversible transfers or recovery | Unknown | Not yet assessed under the current definitions; kernels support relative timelocks, building blocks with which wallets can build delayed or refund-after-timeout spend paths (Laser Beam channels rely on them), and smart contracts (shaders) could build vaults, but no documented recovery schedule or live implementation is cited. The protocol cannot reverse a confirmed payment. 81424 |
| Rollups | Unknown | No source was cited for absence, so the rule that absence needs a source makes this unknown. Earlier finding: no rollup anchored to Beam was found. Beam Warp is a sidechain with its own validators, not a rollup. |
| Shielded transfers | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Signed partial offers | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
Reading these values
- How this feature is provided
- Built into the protocol, core-team software or independent software says where a feature lives and who can change it. These are implementation layers, not quality: core-team software is not closer to the protocol than independent software.
- Structured assessment pending
- The shared review has not assessed this feature for any chain yet (Account abstraction, Native staking or delegation, On-chain governance, Parallel execution, Protocol-verified messaging and Shielded transfers). That does not mean it is absent, and a chain’s profile may already describe it.
- Unknown
- The review has not established this for this chain under the current definition; the note beside it says why. Unknown is not absent and not a low score. A feature reads “Not present” only when a source shows it is absent.
- Earlier definition
- Payment or state channels, Programmable spending and Rollups keep the earlier definition until the next fact-check. There, “Native” does not separate the protocol from core-team software, “Ecosystem software” does not say who publishes it, and “Partial” does not say which layer.
- Reading across rows
- The list of capabilities is incomplete. Do not read these rows as a chain leading or lagging overall.
Ecosystem & custody
| Product type | Status | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Automated market makers | First-partyBeam DEX | An automated market maker run as contracts on Beam, with a web interface published by the core organization. Pool amounts are public because contract balances are visible. Liquidity was not measured. 13033 |
| Issuer-native stablecoins | ThinNephrite | Nephrite is a fiat-pegged confidential asset minted against over-collateralized BEAM in a design adapted from Liquity; its troves are live contracts per the lustration post. Bridged USDT and DAI are wrapped tokens, not issuer-issued: Tether and Circle do not list Beam. Usage was not measured. 30343839 |
| Algorithmic stablecoins | Unknown | No source was cited for absence, so the rule that absence needs a source makes this unknown. Earlier finding: no algorithmic stablecoin was identified; Nephrite is backed by collateral and listed with native stablecoins. Absence was not exhaustively verified. |
| Bridges | First-partyBeam Bridges (Ethereum), Wrapped BEAM on Ethereum | The Beam Bridges app moves ETH, USDT, DAI and WBTC from Ethereum to Beam as wrapped confidential assets and back. BEAM also exists as a wrapped token on Ethereum. Risk: The bridge contract accepts a relayer key registered by an administrator, and the relayer holds keys on both chains, so wrapped assets depend on those operators and on the Ethereum contracts. Who runs the relayers, how keys are held and whether the bridge was audited are not documented in reviewed sources. 110111213 |
| Block explorers | First-partyBeam Explorer (explorer.beam.mw), Beam Smart Explorer | The official explorer returned a bandwidth-limit error during review. The Smart Explorer, which Beam's home page lists under community projects, loaded and lists blocks, confidential assets, contracts and swap offers. Explorers cannot show addresses or the amounts of ordinary outputs. 12835 |
| Hardware wallets | ThinLedger (sideloaded Beam app) | See custody rows. Beam's own Ledger app is sideloaded onto Nano S Plus or Nano S, not installed from Ledger's catalog. Trezor support exists only as experimental custom firmware. 171819 |
Hardware-wallet custody
| Device maker | Status | What users can and cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger | Through an intermediaryBeam Desktop or command-line wallet with the Beam team's sideloaded Ledger appSame as native: No | Can: Sideload the Beam team's app onto a Ledger Nano S Plus or Nano S and approve regular, offline and maximum-privacy transfers from the Beam Desktop or command-line wallet Cannot: Install the app from Ledger's own catalog or manage BEAM in Ledger Wallet (formerly Ledger Live) Cannot: Use a Nano X (no sideloading) or a Stax (Beam's guide says no development environment exists for it); Beam lists both as unsupported Cannot: Sign smart-contract (DApp) transactions with the deviceLedger Wallet's current code has no Beam network and Ledger's site had no Beam coin page at review, so this route is documented by Beam, not by Ledger: the device signs only through Beam's own wallets. Beam's guide says its catalog submission was still awaiting review as of January 2023. 17182040 |
| Trezor | None foundSame as native: No | Cannot: Sign Beam main-chain transactions with official Trezor firmware or Trezor Suite Cannot: Use Beam's experimental Trezor build without installing unofficial custom firmwareTrezor's page for BEAM uses a Mimblewimble description but offers only token routes on Ethereum and on a network called Beam, through Trezor Suite, MetaMask or Rabby. Those routes cannot handle Beam's Mimblewimble transactions and likely refer to another project using the same ticker. 192122 |
Public data
iKnow Blockchain has no public-data lookups for Beam yet. This is a limit of the service, not a statement about the network.
| Lookup | Status | What it covers and its limits |
|---|---|---|
| Address or account | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Tokens and assets | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| NFTs | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Transactions | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
Sourced developments
Developments: Review overdue Reviewed Sep 27, 2026; next review was due Oct 7, 2026, 12:00 UTC.
Publication date · newest first
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Beam proposed lustration to verify circulating supply
Beam proposed a one-time disclosure step: each output created before a future activation height would reveal its amount and asset type the first time it is spent, so nodes can check disclosed totals against the emission schedule. Ownership would stay hidden, and new outputs would stay fully confidential.
- Proposal:published proposal; draft BIP-5 posted 8 August 2026 for discussion, status unassigned, no vote result found
- Implementation:not verified
- Release:no release carrying it was verified
- Activation:not active; activation height to be set by vote
Sources: Beam blog — Lustration Proposal: Verifying Beam's Supply Integrity (external site) · Beam Biweekly (community newsletter by Danai Raza) — Beam Biweekly: August 2026 Ed. #2 (external site) · Beam community forum (test forum) — BIP-5: BeamX DAO vote on Lustration (draft and discussion) (external site)
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Beam disclosed an emergency hard fork fixing a range-proof flaw
Beam disclosed that an emergency hard fork at block 3,928,666 fixed a flaw in its Bulletproofs range proofs that could in theory have let someone create outputs with negative amounts and inflate the supply. Developers said a scan of the chain's history found no such pattern, and they assessed exploitation as unlikely.
- Implementation:fix shipped in the emergency-hf6 pre-release and hotfix release 7.5.14493
- Release:emergency-hf6 pre-release published 2026-06-30; 7.5.14493 published 2026-07-01
- Activation:active at block 3,928,666 per Beam; activation date not stated
Sources: Beam blog — Hard Fork Six (external site) · BeamMW — Emergency network upgrade (emergency-hf6) release notes (external site) · BeamMW — HOTFIX - Groovy Gluon 7.5.14493 release notes (external site) · BeamMW — Beam node and wallet releases (external site)
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Beam Warp sidechain testing continued on a developer network
Beam reported testing the Beam Warp sidechain on a developer network with three-second blocks, a working two-way bridge to a Beam development main chain, and a staking contract supporting up to 96 active validators. Minimum stake and validator count for the next network were still under discussion.
- Implementation:running on developer networks
- Release:no public release
- Activation:not on mainnet; no timeline published
Sources: Beam blog — Beam Warp Development Update #2: Testing and Benchmarking (external site) · BeamMW — core/block_crypt.cpp (consensus rules, fork heights, fees) (external site)
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Beam described Beam Warp as a staked sidechain
Beam described Beam Warp as a delegated proof-of-stake sidechain. Staking, rewards, slashing and jailing run in a contract, BEAMX holders stake through validators to earn sidechain fees, and a two-way bridge locks funds on the main chain and releases them by validator multisignature.
- Implementation:delegated proof-of-stake contract completed on developer networks
- Release:no public release
- Activation:not on mainnet
Source: Beam blog — Beam Warp Development Update #1 (external site)
Topics your AI can explain
Your AI can explain these topics for Beam through the connection, with sources.
Known gaps
What this profile's review did not establish:
- No observed throughput figure was found; only design estimates are listed.
- Mining-pool and hashrate concentration were not reviewed.
- The official explorer (explorer.beam.mw) returned a bandwidth-limit error during review, and the forum domain linked from the home page did not resolve.
- The chain's current size, and node hardware needs beyond the undated desktop wallet guide, were not verified.
- The lustration proposal was posted as a draft (BIP-5) for discussion on 8 August 2026 on a community-run test forum; no DAO vote result or seventh hard fork height was found at review.
- The shielded pool's real anonymity set comes from a single community explorer node's count, not from an official Beam statistic.
- The Ethereum bridge's relayer operators, key custody and audits are not documented in reviewed sources.
- Liquidity and usage of the Beam DEX, Nephrite, bridged tokens and wrapped BEAM were not measured.
- Ledger's site has no Beam coin page (it returned not found); Ledger support rests on Beam's own documentation of a sideloaded app.
- Trezor's BEAM page may describe a different project that uses the same ticker; Beam's own docs describe only experimental custom Trezor firmware.
- Another project named Beam uses the BEAM ticker on Ethereum, Base and Avalanche, and market and vendor pages can confuse the two.
- How fully the mobile wallet's node mode verifies headers was not checked.
- Laser Beam channels were checked only through documentation and release notes; real usage is unknown.
- Beam Warp has no published public testnet or mainnet date.
- The development code contains a disabled EVM transaction type; it is not active on mainnet and was not reviewed further.
Sources
Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 27, 2026 Next check due Oct 27, 2026.
- Beam: privacy blockchain home page (external site)
- Beam & BeamX (external site)
- Tokenomics (external site)
- Beam Mining (external site)
- UTXO Set, Horizons And Cut Through (external site)
- Lelantus MW (external site)
- Transaction creation protocol (external site)
- Lightning Network (Laser Beam) (external site)
- Atomic Swaps (external site)
- Bridges (external site)
- Creating cross-chain transactions (external site)
- beam-bridge-pipe repository (external site)
- beam-bridge-ethrelay repository (external site)
- Developers (Beam Shaders) (external site)
- Desktop Wallet (external site)
- Mobile wallet settings (external site)
- Hardware Wallet (external site)
- Ledger (external site)
- Trezor (external site)
- app-beam: Beam application for Ledger (external site)
- BEAM wallet (external site)
- Beam ($BEAM) home page (external site)
- core/block_crypt.cpp (consensus rules, fork heights, fees) (external site)
- core/block_crypt.h (kernel hash locks and relative locks) (external site)
- node/processor.cpp (chainwork selection and rollback limit) (external site)
- core/fly_client.h (light client proof requests) (external site)
- Groovy Gluon 7.5.13840 release notes (external site)
- HOTFIX - Groovy Gluon 7.5.14493 release notes (external site)
- Hard Fork Six (external site)
- Lustration Proposal: Verifying Beam's Supply Integrity (external site)
- Beam Warp Development Update #1 (external site)
- Beam Warp Development Update #2: Testing and Benchmarking (external site)
- Beam DEX repository (external site)
- Nephrite (BeamZone DApp listing) (external site)
- Beam Smart Explorer (external site)
- Mainnet explorer node status used by the Beam Smart Explorer (height, chainwork, shielded output totals) (external site)
- BIP-5: BeamX DAO vote on Lustration (draft and discussion) (external site)
- Supported protocols (external site)
- USDC contract addresses (external site)
- Ledger Wallet coin module loaders (libs/ledger-live-common/src/coin-modules/loaders.ts) (external site)
Report an error
Found something wrong or out of date? Reporting is free, and every chain goes through the same process. Published corrections appear in the public log.
Funding disclosure
Funding disclosures appear here when an upkeep arrangement exists, in the form “Upkeep funded by [name]; verdicts unaffected.” The funder ledger has not been published yet. Neutrality & funding