2018–2019 were predicted as the dApp years. With the launch and massive success of Crypto Kitties, the market had a fast growth which lead to the excitement of creating variety of dApps.
The definition of a dApp generally sparks discussion and raises the question whether this is a distributed or decentralized platform. dApps can hold a frontend code written in any language with a backend code running on a decentralized P2P network. The frontend can be put on decentralized storages, such as IPFS.
A decentralized app must be autonomous, meaning that any changes should be executed by consensus. The protocol and data are stored on the Blockchain and the generated tokens are used for reward and incentivize the peers.
According to Vitalik Buterin, successful dApps must have the answers of 3 key questions:
How many computers can a system uphold without failing?
How many individuals hold control of the computers?
Does the interface and data structure reveal centralized structure or a distributed one?
Once answered, we can move on and crunch some numbers.
Let the figures talk for themselves
According to recent data from dApp Review, Ethereum spikes up the highest transaction volume of $64,363,885.46 over the last seven days. The volume of Tron and EOS is $46,539,706.50 and $39,931,894.93 respectively.
EOS is leading the game with 27,070,151 transactions and 718,047 users over the last seven days, whereas Tron records up to 5,656,512 transactions with 226,010 users. On the other hand, Ethereum reports only 89,483 users with just 307,708 transactions.
dApps are quietly but surely becoming a hot topic in the Fintech, Blockchain and iGaming industries worldwide. As we speak, they are launching mainnets, tools, and expanding libraries for easier coding, protecting user data and funds along the way. Those are just some of the criteria pinpoints a dApp needs for a successful deployment.
Criteria
The Blockchain platforms may be broken down to several categories, according to developers and marketers alike.
First off is versatility, as only a small portion of your application will live on the Blockchain. The core needs to avoid financial censorship for the users. Incorporating censor-free money with simple contracts, Bitcoin may be a good choice or BTC’s Lighting with its well-known speed.
Second one is speed and if the Blockchain limits its producing nodes, it will result in higher transaction per second count, leading to a better user experience.
Third is platform confidence, because no one wants to build a dApp on a Blockchain, that is not sure to be around in the next 10 years. Such platform must uphold degrees of governance mechanisms in place to recover, if a network failure occurs.
Forth comes the community which is vital. For instance, EOS supporters are ready to jump onto new dApps simply because they are part of the users’ favorite ecosystem. That’s how the decentralized applications secure a stable fan base for the newcomers.
The ease of development is also important in order to experience the minimum learning curve when building a dApp. The more common and known are the languages, such as JavaScript and C++, the less set of new skills the developers have to acquire.
Ensuring safety of funds is one of the first things drawing users to your dApp. Utilizing safe coding practices, hiring a good review team, and using formal verification can minimize damage. Selecting a brand new Blockchain, that haven’t been widely tasted can be also challenging.
Last but not least, developer support is a must when it comes to developing and debugging smart contracts. Having a solid community of tech-savvy experts is a good alternative when the standard libraries are not so efficient.
According to statistics based on stateofdapps.com and following the abovementioned criteria EOS, ETH and TRON still remain at the top 3 places for Blockchain, to use for your dApp.
Top 3 Blockchains to build a dApp on
More and more dApps are built on the EOS ecosystem according to statistics for active gambling dApp users, and as a whole. When looking at the numbers, it seems like 50% of new dApps built on the EOS Blockchain are gambling ones. The daily users hit around 43.4K.
Some of the figures can be a bit off. Victor Fang, CEO of AnChain, explains for CoinDesk:
“The report — the largest-scale study of malicious bots in the EOS ecosystem — also found 51 percent of unique accounts and 75 percent of total transactions were driven by non-human accounts. Bot activity threatens the integrity of the Blockchain industry, as user activity, transaction volume, and daily volume are among the most frequently called-upon metrics for determining technological validity, and precisely what is being faked.”
Other than that, EOS is appreciated for its scalability and smooth running.
For someone to develop EOS dApps, they will need a necessary background with C/C++ because this is the only programming language for EOS Smart Contracts which are published with Ricardian contracts declaring their intent. Quoting Rami James from Get-Scatter.com:
“While development preferences are largely a subjective matter, we at Scatter believe that C++, which is a known quantity with decades of library support and documentation, is far superior to Solidity, which is the required language for creating smart contracts that run on Ethereum. This means that if you are a C++ developer, getting up and running quickly on EOS is straightforward, and does not require that you learn the quirks and intricacies of a new language along with all the other concepts required to develop a decentralized application.”
The capacity of the EOS Blockchain holds and processes over 3000 transactions per second, so it is perfect for projects of any scale.
Ethereum Blockchain is a decentralized platform for building dApps that control money and it is widely utilized for financial services.
This Blockchain was the first one to build a Turing-complete language for writing smart contracts. 91 out of the top 100 dApps are executed on Ethereum. Ethereum also has 30 times more developers than any other Blockchain community.
Although building a dApp on the Ethereum Blockchain needs some coding knowledge, in the current stage of Ethereum anyone can experience the creation of simple dApps thanks to projects, such as dappbuilder.io.
Solidity is the prior language of Ethereum for writing smart contracts. It is inspired by C++, Java, Python and JavaScript.
According to stateofdapps.com, the Ethereum Blockchain has a total of 2,616 dApps with daily active users rounding up to 19.35K. This is way less than EOS but it still upholds its size. Gambling dApps account for 20% of all new dApps on the system.
TRON totals daily user base of less than 30K, according to stateofdapps.com. The Blockchain provides several opportunities for development and deployment. It allows easy and effective digital content that stays put and secure thanks to the distributed storage properties of the system.
Some of the benefits of TRON are ownership of data, entitlement of proportional profits, and a solid team of experienced developers, just to name a few.
The steps to creating a dApp on TRON look simple. Set up an account, get familiar with TronLink, Shasta testnet, testnet TRX, and TronBox.
While the ease of development may be improved, a number of dApp issues require further exploration.
Challenges for dApps
One of the main points of any Blockchain adversary is that scale is the major issue that any Blockchain-based app may eventually face. dApp teams don’t necessarily agree with that. They mostly underline that the limited number of users and poor user experience are their biggest hustle. This hurdle is directly linked to the fact that many of the projects don’t have enough knowledge and network opportunities to gain additional market share and build efficient marketing strategy for user acquisition and user retention. The right marketing partner is a long-term investment that should be considered when planning to grow.
A marketing partner can also help with the learning curve of the dApps audience. People should get used to the usage of dApps, that is currently quite different from apps we are used to download on our mobile phones: get used to the private/public key [no pass recovery], get familiar with crypto and native tokens, as so on. A whole new ecosystem!
Another big challenge is dApps interface. Focusing on the technology which is 50% of the user experience, the other 50% is often forgotten. The design and creative approach for most of the dApps is either very complex and people don’t know how to navigate, or too simple and unpleasant. A lot of work still needs to be done, and it should be done fast.
So why dApps?
dApps key advantage is the distribution of essential components which makes them more resistant to attacks. Blockchain per definition ensures fast, reliable, and secured data storage.
The application doesn’t lie on a single IP addresses, so blocking, modifying and censoring a dApp is highly difficult to do.
Summary
Decentralized applications are everywhere — from finance through music and gaming. With remarkable financial results so far, dApps are most certainly here to stay.
As already mentioned, one of the biggest challenges for dApps is efficient marketing in order to grow the community, regardless of the Blockchain used. Amazing projects are launched on a daily basis, but remain hidden from their potential audience.
Ranked as the #1 marketing agency for dApp marketing, CoinPoint has built long term partnerships with its clients through sustainable marketing strategies built on creativity, trust, and loyalty.
If you are interested in knowing more on how CoinPoint can help your business, contact us today. We will get back to you promptly with carefully built strategy and network that is ready to work for you.
Currently you can also meet our CEO Oron Barber in Kiev, Ukraine talking about dApps and their contribution to the iGaming field at the Crypto Games Conference. Our media support to the most prominent events in the industry will be celebrated in February 2020, on our VIP networking party, where Blockchain and iGaming will meet after ICE London. CoinPoint as a Group is proud to celebrate 10 years as a trusted partner of the iGaming industry.
The panels Oron Barber will be attending are as follow:
– 10.10.2019 Yellow Hall, 14:30–15:30 Build your Net Gaming Revenue — Conversion and Retention Strategies
– 11.10.2019 Yellow Hall, 12:00–13:00 dApps Contribution to iGaming Market — 2020 Opportunities
Do you think dApps are the future or just a trend? Which projects are you most excited about?
Share your opinion with our CEO on LinkedIn!
