I think all of us are very familiar with APP, even the ole people in the sixties and seventies now know the app. If there are not a few apps in your mobile phone, you definitely out of touch with the society. However, what is DAPP now? Is it related to APP?
1. What is Dapp
DAPP is the abbreviation of Decentralized Application. When an application meets the following conditions, it can be called DAPP.
1.1 The application must be completely open source, autonomous, and no entity controls most of the tokens of the application. The application must be able to upgrade based on market feedback and technical requirements, but the upgrade must be agreed by the user of the application before proceeding.
1.2 The application data must be encrypted and stored on the public blockchain.
1.3 The application must have a token mechanism (existing tokens can be used or a new built-in token can be issued). Miners or application maintenance nodes need token rewards.
1.4 The generation of application tokens must be based on standard encryption algorithms, and valuable nodes can obtain tokens for application based on the algorithm.
According to the above criteria, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Asch are DAPPs, but some DAPPs play the role of operating systems (such as Ethereum and Asch). Based on these platforms, it is easy to develop DAPPs for specific needs, and some DAPPs (such as CCTIME) is a specific application. But they all meet the above criteria.
2.The core elements of DAPP
2.1 Development Platform
The most popular development platform now is Ethereum, it is the second largest blockchain project in the world except Bitcoin. It is like a distributed computer spread all over the world. You only need to deploy your application on Ethereum. The operation of the application can be guaranteed by all Ethereum nodes.
2.2 Consensus mechanism
The consensus mechanism determines how each node running the DAPP can reach consensus and obtain rewards. Currently, the most commonly used consensus mechanisms are POW, POS, and DPOS. The POW allocates rewards based on computing resources. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum have adopted this mechanism.
2.3 Token Distribution
In general, DAPPs have built-in tokens. If more users want to participate in the maintenance and use of DAPPs, they need to consider how to distribute tokens to users. At present, the most common are the following options:
Mining: Take Bitcoin as an example. Any person who has computing resources can join Bitcoin's mining and get new Bitcoin through mining incentives.
ICO: It can be simply understood as crowdfunding. By collecting other tokens that have matured on the market, a certain percentage is converted into tokens within the DAPP. Ethereum is based on the proportion of 1BTC/2000ETH through ICO to get a lot of BTC as the starting capital.
Airdrop: Distribute tokens to users free of charge. Users who hold other tokens only need to complete a simple binding process to obtain tokens.
Private placement: This is just like finding an investment, depending on your personal ability.
3.The practical application of DAPP
Currently there are two main types of blockchain DAPPs in the market, one is "blockchain games", the most famous is the ether cat's Cypto Kitties based on the Ethereum development platform in 2017, and waykichain (wicc) , the first DAPP of theguessing game in blockchain history; The other type is “mobile phone mining”, which is marked by public trust Baoluo City.
3.The prospects of DAPP
At present, DAPP based on blockchain technology is still in the early stage of exploration. There is no large-scale practical application of DAPP. However, it is undeniable that blockchain technology has given us tremendous imagination.
The mobile phone apps bring people into the era of mobile internet. The rise of the mobile phone APP has changed people's living habits, from point of delivery, watching movies, taxis, bicycles, online shopping, social networking, office, information, video... the convenience brought by mobile apps has transformed our business, life and work from different dimensions to varying degrees.
Whether DAPP can defeat APP is still unknown, but the development of DApp is an inevitable trend. DApp is the result of the combination of traditional App and blockchain, it is more like a crowdfunding model, a sharing model and a decentralization model. The sponsor or organization first wrote a white paper to clarify the consensus mechanism and token allocation and incentives. The person who holds the token is the shareholder, directly associated with DApp's earnings. The token can be traded on a supported exchange like a stock, so holding a token for that DApp is equivalent to owning an owner's equity.
It can be imagined that there will be DApps in various fields in the future, and everyone will be classified by tokens and grouped by tokens. In fact, more and more blockchain projects are foucusing DAPP, sucah as Qtum, who started it’s DAPP project, Energo Labs at the end of last year.