Dapps are decentralized applications that might feel like regular apps. Behind the scene, it has some special qualities that are discussed in the article.
Introduction to dApp
Decentralized applications can be accessible to a wide audience and provide a diverse set of functions from business services to entertainment. This application runs on a peer-to-peer network rather than a centralized server. dApp is built using the distributed ledger. It allows the user to transparently complete transactions, without needing to trust a centralized point. In the peer-to-peer network, everything that a centralized server usually do is distributed across all the nodes of the network, users can directly participate in the applications. dApp can be easily deployed on the smartphone or laptop with the only additional feature to keep the data away from any particular organizations.
Characteristics:
- Open source: All the required are decided on the majority of the other nodes available in the network.
- Storage: As the name is decentralized data are stored on the decentralized blocks.
- Validation: As the Application runs on the blockchain system, they use a cryptographic token which is a need of the network.
Decentralized vs Centralized Applications
| Basis | Centralized | Decentralized |
|---|---|---|
| Location | In the centralized application software location resides at a central location | In the decentralized applications, software resides on each client’s machines |
| Size | In a centralized application, a minimum number of applications and files reside on the client’s system | In a decentralized application, a file resides on each of the client’s workstations |
| Bandwidth | It requires high bandwidth as the software movement from the server to the client takes place frequently | It requires low bandwidth as the movement of the application software is less |
| User choice | In a centralized system, there is a less flexibility for the user as it depends on the server | In a decentralized application, it is more flexible and user choices are more priority |
| Feasibility | Increase number of applications on the network increases the likelihood as there will be a conflict between two or more packets | Increased number of applications will be easier to be stored in local work station hence it can be achieved by decentralized application |
Pros of dApp
- Faster Adoption: A decentralized application provides freedom to the user to run the app without having to trust any other party and thus results in faster adoption of the application. The smart contract is deployed on the blockchain the network is whole and will be able to serve clients that are looking to interact with the contracts.
- Less pause: These applications are more flexible than the centralized ones as they do not rely on a single server. So, enterprises can ensure minimum interruption and downtime for continuity of the network, a single node working in a decentralized network can stay available even though the performance of the network may be downgraded.
- Cost reduction: Unlike centralized systems which require a high installation cost of the server and experts to manage and maintain the server. This decentralized application eliminates the cost of the network.
- Highly autonomous: These applications are considered to be more secure when compared with traditional applications. These applications do not face any security breaches as they do not have any central structure from which threats occur. The decentralized application seems to be more secure as the creator also cannot the flow of the network
- No censorship: The coding used in this type of application is totally open source. The absence of all corporations to govern the application is a major reason to provide resistance to censorship
- New opportunities: Since it is a new technology there are less number of users and this gives a lot of opportunities for the early adopters. No single entity can block the other user from submitting the transaction or reading the data from the blockchain.
Cons of dApp
- Slow speed: In the decentralized system, it occurs in some transactions are delayed in the process, this add lags time to the process which is executing in the network. This becomes the sole reason for the business not to rely on decentralized applications. The network can only process around 10-15 transactions per second.
- Hard Maintenance: Dapps are as difficult as it is hard to modify the code and data published on the blockchain. Once the Dapps are deployed developers also find it hard to make changes even if the bug is identified.
- Hard to use: It is as an end-user as the average end-user finds it too difficult to set up the necessary stack to interact with the blockchain insecure manner. To make it somewhere user-friendly one solution is to build a base layer on the top of the apps which ended up as a centralized app.
- End-user experience: Since Dapps is solving the major aspect of security and efficiency the end-user experience is neglected. This may impact their digital penetration rate and the rate at which people will adopt this technology.
- Immutable: We have seen the Immutability of dApps as a benefit but it can have some disadvantages also i.e. smart contracts are developed by humans and as human error is unavoidable these dApps have a high potential to become a huge problem.
Examples
- Lightning Network: The Lightning Network was created to solve Bitcoin’s scalability problem by transferring transactions off-chain and increasing the throughput capacity of the Bitcoin network.
- Augur: It is a decentralized network built on the Ethereum blockchain. The platform is designed to create event prediction markets. A user can place a bet on the outcome of an event to receive a reward.
- Torn: It is a decentralized environment for creating and hosting digital content. 888 TRON is one of the most popular TRON gambling platforms.
- Golem: Golem is a decentralized supercomputer that anyone can access all over the world. The power of Golem results from the combined energy of all the computers that power it. Because of this immense computational power, users can rent out their computing power to other users.
Decentralized applications don‘t necessarily need to run on top of a blockchain network. Tor, BitTorrent, Popcorn Time, and BitMessage, are examples of decentralized applications that run on a P2P network, but not on a blockchain.
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