Imagine a day when your car, which sits idle for ten hours a day, decides to rent itself out. Consider using your computer's idle GPU to make applications for others. Imagine your solar grid selling any excess energy it produced this month to the highest bidder. Much of this seems to be far too profitable and utopian. Yes, of course. But that doesn't rule out the possibility. Your applications will begin to communicate with one another and make decisions on your behalf in the near future. Applications that will help them pay for their repairs and file insurance claims.
There will be a change in how we communicate with software and hardware in the near future. They are becoming increasingly self-sufficient. How do we ensure that they behave in the best interests of their users rather than their own? What is the best way to distribute our faith to them?
We don't have to think about it anymore, thanks to Blockchain. Because of blockchain's distributed existence, trust is transferred and distributed among everyone on the same network. “I have faith in you to protect the network because you have faith in me.”
The blockchain, rather than providing a network, a central server, and a database, is a network and a database all in one. For the first time, decentralisation of confidence was possible with Bitcoin. We stopped relying on a centralised authority to make sure things went as planned. An application can be configured to function on our behalf thanks to advances in the same principle.
The paradigm shift that will shape our future is Decentralized Applications, or Dapps.
Decentralized Application
Dapps are essentially pieces of software that run on a distributed protocol's base layer. They aren't that different from the general programmes that operate on the Internet today, with the exception of their ability to function independently. Dapps can do all that conventional Apps can, but they can also simplify the process to meet the user's needs. With the advent of Blockchain technology, it is becoming increasingly possible to create new applications that operate on our behalf.
A Dapp has the same appearance as any other web-based application and performs the same functions while adhering to the same pre-defined logic. What's fresh is the integration of a public-private key infrastructure, which enables the app to function as a wallet. Smart contracts may be embedded into an application, given a set of conditions, and then left to run on its own. The application will now make payments, accept payments, execute contracts, and satisfy obligations.
Although the precise concept of a Dapp is debatable, most people would accept that a Dapp is something that follows a pre-defined logic, is open-source, has rewards attached to it, and runs on a base protocol. With this broad meaning, one might argue that Bitcoin is a Dapp because it meets all of the criteria mentioned above. Ethereum later expanded on this idea by focusing on what a Dapp should do. Ethereum has slowly emerged as the front-runner for Dapp creation by implementing Smart Contracts to execute Turing complete operations and protocols like ERC-20 and ERC-1450 to allow specialised operations.
For a successful Dapp to run and execute, it requires a framework that can support it. According to the State of the Dapps, there are currently about 3,500 Dapps operating across multiple platforms. Ethereum is the most common Dapp platform, with the majority of Dapps running on it. This is due to the Ethereum network's scalability and reliability.
Dapps are on the rise, as seen in the picture. It's only a matter of time before the Laggards arrive, with more and more developers playing with the technology.
Where Do You Create Your Dapp?
EOS is currently the most popular Dapp platform in terms of regular users, but Ethereum leads the pack in terms of active projects on-chain. Ethereum is attractive to developers who want to see how far they can go because of its versatility. Steem, on the other hand, is well ahead of its rivals in terms of average Dapp use. Steem is a blockchain-based reputation network that makes efficient use of the users' stake and connections. Although EOS and TRON currently account for the majority of gambling and gaming apps, Ethereum hosts the majority of usable apps in other categories.
Ethereum
Ethereum brought the promise of bringing blockchain-powered decentralised applications to the next level by providing a blockchain with a native Turing-complete programming language. Despite the presence of many rivals, Ethereum is still a viable forum for DApps. Solidity, Ethereum's in-house language, is a Turing-complete language that gives developers more versatility. Smart Contracts can be created in Solidity and executed when certain requirements are met.
EOS
EOS, like Ethereum, uses a delegated-proof-of-stake (DPoS) consensus model to achieve optimal performance over Ethereum's proof-of-work model. Increased centralization is a trade-off with this. EOS bills itself as a blockchain with no transaction fees. EOS's ownership model does this by allowing users to own and use resources proportional to their stake rather than paying for each transaction. In other words, if you own N EOS tokens, you have access to N*k transactions. This effectively reduces transaction fees while still increasing scalability thanks to dPos.
Cardano
Cardano, one of the most intriguing projects, is close to Ethereum. Cardano is a forum for smart contracts. A layered architecture provides scalability and security. Cardano's strategy is one of a kind in the industry. Under the leadership and vision of Charles Hoskinson, the creator and ex-founder of Ethesreum, it prides itself on scientific theory and peer-reviewed academic science. Cardano's theory requires that each step of the process be mathematically proved. Despite the fact that there aren't many applications built on the platform, Cardano is quickly becoming a household name in the Dapp community.
TRON
Tron is a smart contract-based blockchain platform led by Justin Sun, one of the most divisive figures in the crypto industry. It promises to make the transition from traditional to distributed applications easier, as well as hasten the decentralisation of existing platforms and the creation of new dApps. Tron claims to be a blockchain with high transaction throughput, scalability, and reliability, according to its official website. Tron could theoretically handle 80 times more transactions per second than the Ethereum blockchain, making it a very appealing option. This is due to the fact that Tron is less decentralised than Ethereum and the other cryptocurrencies.
The Tron network has been at the forefront of many debates. Misinformation abounds, social media growth is unhealthy, and Justin Sun's lofty promises have led many community members to believe Tron may not work as advertised, but that hasn't stopped them from being one of the most popular channels to date. Despite the fact that the majority of Tron-based applications are gambling-related, the network's transaction speed could theoretically allow for the development of better applications. It will be interesting to see what promises Tron keeps.
dApps Future
Despite some hailing DApps as a game-changing technology, the current state of the DApp landscape suggests a low level of demand. Of course, there's a case to be made that the scalability limitations of today's blockchains are limiting the popularity of DApps. CryptoKitties wreaked havoc on the community, and everybody remembers it. CryptoKitties is a collectible game based on the Ethereum Blockchain that has clogged up the network. The network's capabilities and promises were questioned after a single application caused the network to become unstable.
However, bottlenecks will not halt the rapid expansion of decentralised applications. Platforms like Ethereum and Cardano, among others, are quickly addressing issues like scalability, ease of use, and protocol flexibility to ensure that dapps run smoothly and without any of the protocol's drawbacks.
Decentralized systems hold the promise of eventually burying many of the problems that plague conventional apps. Misuse of control, lack of accountability, and weak security, for example, are all issues that dApps should address. Users would have more control over their data and use with the introduction of dApps. DApps can only work under the constraints set by their users. Although the process of developing dApps is still in its early stages, it has the potential to provide a more cost-effective alternative that addresses the limitations that plague conventional apps.
