Decentralized applications, a.k.a decentralized apps or Dapps, are a new family of web applications aiming to improve upon the transparency and to minimize or eliminate the need for any trust between the participants in any transaction. Dapps are enabling commercial transactions and processes, supply chains, and all those systems that require mutual trust between customer and supplier, user and provider beyond what Web 2.0 has delivered. Some even profess that Dapps could be the backbone of Web 3.0.
An example of a popular Dapp is Bitcoin. Its purpose is to provide a peer-to-peer cash system that allows its users to make online payments.
Dapps are created, hosted and run on blockchain networks. This implies, that like the blockchain itself, Dapps are decentralized (i.e. not controlled by any central authority). Dapps however are not limited to financial markets and systems. In fact, any service across almost all industries, regulated or maintained by an intermediary or central organization, even the Government can be converted into Ethereum Dapps, which includes loans, title registries, regulatory compliance, and voting systems.
Across Dapps a transaction would only be completed and the money fully transferred to the seller, when all the conditions associated with the transaction have been complied with (e.g. delivery confirmation).
In Dapps, any transactions aren’t processed just by the seller or a buyer but by one of many participants in the platform and then all the participants in the platform also independently verify it. This mechanism is called consensus. The consensus mechanism guarantees that the stated transaction conditions get enforced and verified by many independent parties rather than a single seller or buyer.
The entire code processing, transaction and verification process is open to all observers. This offers an unprecedented level of reassurance that the application is executing under the committed terms.
Now, let’s take a look at some of pros and cons of Dapps:
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Dapps are independent, as no single person, entity or system can make any kind of changes to their codes or data. This creates a safe and secure system free from tampering and fraud. | Dapps, coded typically using smart contracts are prone to bugs when initially put onto the blockchain. This can lead to unintended and adverse actions taking place which are hard to control and change. |
Dapps are free from censorship or corruption. | Reversing transactions to mitigate issues created due to bugs doesn’t fit the blockchain principles of being immutable, which goes against the essence of the blockchain’s decentralized nature. |
Dapps are super secure against hacks, being based on the principles of cryptography and decentralization. | |
Dapps can’t be switched off and have no down-time. | |
No need to integrate third party payment providers such as PayPal into Dapps. As these run on Ethereum, Ether can be used for exchanges which could be later traded for other currencies. | |
Dapps create trust between the app and its users as users can see the code, both the front-end code and back-end logic. |
Decentralized applications however, aren’t always the best solution for a business problem. For example, it doesn’t make sense to decentralize an internal enterprise application that isn’t shared with any external participant. Below however is a glimpse of the Dapps Ecosystem that’s thriving and growing day by day.
DApp browsers, also known as web 3.0 browsers enable users to connect to decentralized applications on a blockchain such as DeFi apps, web3 apps, crypto tools, and more. A majority of these browsers are part of crypto wallets, thus seamlessly integrating payments as well.
A notable smart contracting blockchain like Ethereum, EOS, or Waves, is TRON. Decentralized applications that run from the Tron blockchain are called Tron Dapps. Unlike Ethereum or EOS, Tron’s purpose is to create a decentralized network to serve the entertainment sector. Within the Tron ecosystem, dapps are broadly categorized into Games, Gambling, Collectibles, and Exchanges.
DappRadar
DappRadar is one of the largest dApp distribution marketplaces in the world which serves users, researchers, journalists, analysts and investors with easily actionable market data and help them discover useful Dapps. Users can sort dApps through user and volume filters and quickly discover the most used dApps.
Dapp Center
Dappcentre is a platform to discover and market Dapps via Telegram, Discord, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitch, and YouTube.
1xBit is an easy-to-use online bookmaker and casino that offers its players secure transactions and maximum respect for anonymity. The wide choice of sporting events and the wide selection of casino games, including slot machines, roulette and blackjack, allow players to enjoy themselves without taking risks. Specifically designed to play with cryptocurrencies, it has an efficient and qualified customer service that intervenes to solve any problem encountered by players.
Olympus is a pioneer Dapps promoting Tokenomics via a Binance Smart Chain token with dual BUSD Reflect & Buyback system designed to incentivize long-term holders with hourly rewards.
Luminous is an online game service that facilitates playing games with cryptocurrency, hosted and executed over the Tron Network. It boasts of two successful games: Megabit and Lucky Dice.
Wink (previously as TRONbet) provides users with online gaming over blockchain technology, sans sign-ups, shady house edges, and poor player experience.
Put your money to work with Botsfolio. Check products
Whenever you feel like, open the dashboard to track your investment fund taking shape and bringing in returns.
View Latest Performance of Trading Bots on our Platform.
Decentralized cryptocurrencies have gained a lot of attention over the last decade. Bitco…
The Taproot Update was first proposed in 2018 by Gregory Maxwell, a Bitcoin Core (BTC) co…
Cryptocurrency is truly Global and the concept of a global corporate tax rate is nothing …
There have been countless crypto-based get-rich-quick scams, from Bitconnect-style Ponzi …
Governments, private banks, and all central banks, credit card industry giants, such as V…
China has been working towards developing and launching its own national digital currency…