How we can use blockchains distributed hash tables and peer to peer protocols to create decentralized applications!
What is a dApp? Decentralized Application on the Blockchain
dApp is the abbreviated term for a decentralized application. Just as any developer can build apps for the App Store on Apple’s IOS operating system, developers can (also) build on top of Ethereum’s blockchain infrastructure. To the end user, a dApp might not look and feel any different than other apps you use today. However, dApps are powered by the blockchain; and this makes them different – and perhaps.. far superior.
What is a Dapp?
What are Dapps? Imagine having your car working away, transporting passengers while you’re at work. Imagine having your computer utilizing its spare capacity to serve businesses and people across the globe. Imagine being paid for browsing the web and taking ownership of your, arguably invaluable, attention.
Imagine a world like that.
That world is not far away.
A paradigm shift in the way we view software models is approaching. When Bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency, made us reassess our definition of Store of Value (SoV), it also revealed a sneak peek of the future: a world running on decentralized applications (Dapps). These distributed, resilient, transparent and incentivized applications will prove themselves to the world by remapping the technological landscape.
Blockchain 8: Distributed Applications
A Dapp is an application that runs on a network in a distributed fashion with participant information securely protected and operations executed in a decentralized fashion across a network of nodes. Dapps use open source code, operate autonomously with data and records cryptographically stored on a blockchain
What is Ethereum?
Ethereum describes itself as “a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third-party interference.”
The term “smart contract” refers to computer code that can facilitate the exchange of money, content, property, shares, or anything of value. When running on the blockchain a smart contract becomes like a self-operating computer program that automatically executes when specific, defined conditions are met.
Ethereum was proposed in late 2013 by Vitalik Buterin, a cryptocurrency researcher and programmer and launched in 2015.
The platform is also the basis for its own virtual currency, Ether.
Ethereum is not just a platform. It’s also a programming language, helping developers to build and publish distributed applications.
As an example for comparison and contrast, Bitcoin is also a distributed public blockchain network. Although there are important technical differences between Bitcoin and Ethereum, Bitcoin solely exists to offer one famous application of blockchain technology: a peer to peer electronic cash system that enables and tracks online Bitcoin payments.
Conversely, the Ethereum blockchain focuses on running the programming code of any decentralized application.
In fact, Ethereum is also being used as a platform to launch other cryptocurrencies
In the Ethereum blockchain, instead of mining for bitcoin, miners work to earn Ether, a type of crypto token that fuels the network. Beyond a tradeable cryptocurrency, Ether is also used by application developers to pay for transaction fees and services on the Ethereum network.
There is a second type of token that is used to pay miners fees for including transactions in their block, it is called gas, and every smart contract execution requires a certain amount of gas to be sent along with it to entice miners to put it in the blockchain.
Visit the following link to see what types of Dapps are being built on Ethereum.
Dan Larimer Explains EOS
Dan Larimer, CTO of EOS, discusses his latest blockchain in this video, which is edited from a number of presentations.
Larimer is noted for creating two earlier, and still popular decentralized blockchains:
- Bitshares
- Steem.
From those projects he conceived what he considers to be a better platform, which has led to his current development of EOS.
Philosophically, he was inspired by free markets, Austrian economics and Ron Paul. As a result he wanted to create systems that would provide freedom and are nonviolent.
Larimer’s life mission in to “Find free market solutions for securing life, liberty and property.”
Hence, we need money that is not controlled by a central authority.
He recognized the vulnerability of crypto exchanges, which could be shut down by governments, cutting the flow of digital currencies.
From that he created Bitshares (BTS) a Decentralized Asset Exchange. But that wasn’t up to the task of handling the required scalability.
He created Steem, a blockchain social media platform that rewards users for creating content. Transactions on Steem are free. But it moved away from a core principle of true decentralization.
Larimer is no longer involved with Bitshares or Steem and both of those platforms are doing well.
However, from his perspective, the industry has much to learn and with his past experience and ongoing learning he is building EOS for the purpose of establishing future applications on top of it with the intention that anyone, including himself, could develop on it.
EOS enables developers to build decentralized applications in a general purpose way, which are compatible with sustainable growth.
EOS is an open source platform that anyone can use to develop high-performance, decentralized, blockchain smart contracts.
What is EOS? (And EOS.IO?)
EOS is a cryptocurrency that powers the EOS.IO blockchain. Calling itself “The most powerful infrastructure for decentralized applications,” EOS.IO is a decentralized system that enables the development, hosting, and execution of commercial-scale decentralized applications (dapp) on its platform.
A dapp built on the EOS.IO platform does not require micropayments by end users to send messages and perform tasks. This is left up to the individual dapp developers to determine how transactions fees (which are extremely low) will be paid. This means companies are free to come up with their own monetization strategies and offer their users service for free or otherwise.
The EOSIO platform was developed by the private company Block.one and released as open-source software on June 1, 2018.
Here is how CEO, Brendan Blumer and CTO Daniel Larimer at Block.one describe it:
https://youtu.be/eRAxrqaqGEQ
An interesting point made by Blumer is “The idea of EOS is that if you’re able to build a basic website you should be able to build/launch a decentralized business.”
Furthermore, it’s also become the #1 (most active) blockchain on Blocktivity.info
What Are Dapps?
“Dapp” stands for “decentralized application.”
Decentralized means it’s not controlled by one entity. Most applications on the internet, including the most well known, are centralized applications controlled by one company. Think Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo and many other applications large and small. Currently, these are ‘not’ dapps.
More specifically Dapps are programs, tools, or applications that run on the decentralized Ethereum blockchain.
A blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger of data, made famous as the foundation of all decentralized cryptocurrency transactions.
Blockchains can support many more applications than money.
The Ethereum network is a popular blockchain. As such, Ethereum is a decentralized technology uncontrolled by any single authority.
To further elaborate, regular apps have all their data controlled by their own company servers with one single authority. They may require a user login that collects personal information, such as name, birth date, address, user history, etc.
Alternatively, Dapps work off a blockchain. Instead of personal information for logging in, they require a private address which can be a random string of characters that holds no personal information.
We are in the early days of Dapp development and you will be hearing more about this term as conventional applications shift from the universe of centralized control to blockchain decentralized application.