Unfortunate that Cardano Blockchain has got unexpected scalability issues to sort out
Until now, Cardano remained a promising Blockchain without it actually being a Blockchain where live functional dapps can be built. Everyone was waiting for September, the time stated for Cardano to undergo the Alonzo Mainnet upgrade that would give Cardano smart contract abilities.
Now, Cardano has completed this milestone which is good news of course, because we at the very least can get to see how Cardano fares as a Blockchain platform for dapps. Unfortunately, I feel that Cardano Blockchain enthusiasts have reason to feel disappointed, because Cardano is not really ready for launching fully scalable, onchain dapps as of now. This is because it faces concurrency issues which is a scalability hurdle for the Cardano Blockchain.
Various Blockchains have useful DEFI applications for users to utilize these days
What one as an active crypto DEFI user sees is that there are already other Blockchain Platforms out there that have shown us their potential as a host platform for great functional dapps.
So many Blockchains that have live functional dapps apps in today’s age. List from DefiLama
Therefore, if Cardano fails to deliver on its promises, crypto investors will flock to invest in Blockchains that have live DEFI apps that they can dabble with.
Solana and Binance Smart Chain
Yes, we are already very familiar with dapps of Binance Smart Chain, but apart from Binance Smart Chain, Solana has been making headlines of late and I have used Serum Dex of Solana’s Ecosystem to trade my Sol crypto and book sweet profits.
Polkadot Blockchain looks geared for launch of functional Dapps
Polkadot, looks like a Blockchain that when launched would be immediately dapp ready as its Canary testnet chain Kusama has well functioning parachains launched in it.
So, investors can be confident that dapps that come up in Polkadot when parachain launches eventually happen would be ready to use.
One can test Acala DEFI in Polkadot with its testnet interface Acala Mandala, this makes DEFI enthusiasts excited about Acala when it gets launched in Polkadot.
Attractive DEFI platforms in the Terra Blockchain
Anchor Protocol and Mirror protocol are functional popular DEFI apps in Terra Blockchain.
Cosmos Blockchain has proved itself as a capable platform for hosting functional dapps
Then there is Cosmos Blockchain, which two has several functional dapps and two DEFI apps with Osmosis and Gravity Dex launched. Both these DEFI projects are functioning fine in their basic form.
Everyone had expectations from Cardano to be a great Blockchain Platform for dapps
Therefore, a DEFI investor’s expectations from Cardano Blockchain were high, which is why when investors like me heard about this concurrency issue that Cardano Blockchain faced when the first dapp launched on Cardano’s testnet a few weeks back, I got disappointed.
The Dapp that launched on Cardano’s testnet shutdown soon due to scalability issues
Minswap was the first dex to launch on Cardano’s testnet, it faced scalability issues immediately after it got deployed with the dapp being able to process just one transaction per block which surprised users who tested the platform.
Cardano’s unique concurrency issue as it functions using the EUTXO model to compute transactions
The issue that MInswap faced was a concurrency issue which is unique to the Cardano Blockchain because it computes transactions using a different model from other Blockchains as Cardano functions using the Extended UTXO (EUTXO) model.
The EUTXO model is challenging Dapp developers in the Cardano Ecosystem as in this model, concurrency issues are sprouting up where multiple users are not able to interact with a smart contract at the same time.
Most other Blockchains in existence like Ethereum and Solana use an Account-based model to compute transactions in which there is no concurrency issue that Cardano faces.
Developers’ challenge to work out a way to deal with the concurrency issue
Therefore, Cardano dapp developers have the concurrency issue to deal with, which definitely poses a challenge for them. However, several dapp projects have said that they have found a solution to the concurrency problem, details about their solutions are yet to be revealed.
There are possible workarounds for the concurrency issue but the question here is whether those solutions to the concurrency issue work without compromising on the criteria of decentralisation and security that Cardano Blockchain always claimed it would have for so long.
Some possible solutions to scale dapps in Cardano
One of these solutions is the use of third part sequencers that aggregate transactions by batching them together so that they go down as one transaction and settle down in the same state as one transaction.
However, this may introduce an element of centralisation.
There are other possible scaling solutions or dapps in Cardano like layer 2 protocols and sidechains. They all will have their own specific challenges of centralisation and security to deal with.
My Decision to remove investments from Cardano and put it in any other functional smart contract Blockchain
Cardano finally disappointed me and as a investor who likes to use dapps in Blockchains, I liquidated most of my ADA and waiting for a opportunity to use the money to buy cryptos of any other Blockchain that has shown its potential - Solana, Polkadot, Cosmos, Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain.