Moonbeam stopped all user transactions at 23:59 UTC on July 31, 2026, as the standard window for migrating GLMR tokens to the new network closed. The move leaves roughly 308 million GLMR — nearly a quarter of the total supply — stuck in the migration contract, with no public guarantee that late holders will recover their funds.
What the migration window meant
The migration contract held about 308.183 million GLMR at 20:20 UTC on July 31, representing 24.83% of the total 1.241 billion GLMR issuance. The remaining 75% of supply includes free holdings, exchange custody, staking, treasury, and other balances that weren't processed through the direct bridge. Moonbeam had warned users for weeks to move their tokens before the cutoff, but a significant portion didn't make it.
Late GLMR holders were told to email the helpdesk for individual review. The company didn't promise recovery — just a case-by-case look. That leaves a lot of uncertainty for anyone who missed the deadline.
Exchange handling and user options
Not all exchanges handled the migration the same way. KuCoin automatically converted GLMR at a 1:1 ratio, so its users didn't have to do anything. Bybit, on the other hand, announced its own migration schedule, meaning customers there had to follow a separate process. Moonbeam itself directed users to withdraw funds from DeFi protocols — liquidity pools, lending platforms, staking contracts, crowdloans, and governance locks — before the cutoff. Funds left deployed after the halt may become inaccessible, the company warned.
The situation echoes a similar warning from Swell, which told users to bridge out by June 23, 2026, ahead of its own migration. These kinds of hard deadlines are becoming a pattern in the crypto space, and they put the onus squarely on individual holders to act in time.
DeFi and staking commitments
Moonbeam did make one limited commitment: it said it would honor staking and crowdloan balances on Base if holders met account-signature and snapshot requirements. But it didn't extend that same promise to governance locks, DeFi positions, or unclaimed rewards. So anyone who had tokens in a lending pool or a governance contract is out of luck unless they withdrew before the deadline.
The network itself entered maintenance mode at 00:00 UTC on Aug. 1. That means block production continues, but new user transactions are rejected. The chain is effectively frozen for regular activity while the migration plays out.
What happens to the 24% still in the contract
The big unresolved question is what happens to that 308 million GLMR still sitting in the migration contract. Moonbeam hasn't said whether it will eventually unlock those funds or if they're permanently lost. The helpdesk email is the only path for now, and there's no timeline for individual reviews. For the thousands of holders who missed the window, the next few weeks will determine whether their tokens are gone for good.
