Hey, How has your week been? I am guessing alright in spite of everything happening these days. For those into Cryptos, it is not yet sunrise as the bear market gets tamer by the day. This week, we are getting more revelation about the fall of the erstwhile "Crypto wonder kid", Sam Bankman Fried and his FTX empire which now lies in ruins. More FTX linked businesses collapsed this week and there could yet be more the next. So winter actually arrived early for many exposed persons. In related events, Big Tech is reeling from the effects of economic slowdown with thousands of employees getting the sack letter(Amazon became the latest statistic). Also, Twitter also seems to be imploding from within, all thanks to the Maverick Elon Musk .So for many out there, it has not been a great week. However we have to move on. Such is life!
This week, I wish to continue with discussion of Cryptocurrencies as an important application of web3.0. Last week, it was centered on Cryptos as payment enablers(Bitcoin, Litecoin etc). This article will look at Cryptos(also interchanged with Blockchains) as Dapps enablers.
So what are dapps and which Crypto tokens are best adapted for them?
According to Wikipedia, we have this definition; A decentralised application (DApp, dApp, Dapp, or dapp) is an application that can operates autonomously, typically through the use of smart contracts, that run on a decentralized computing, blockchain or other distributed ledger system. Like traditional applications, DApps provide some function or utility to its users. However, unlike traditional applications, DApps operate without human intervention and are not owned by any one entity, rather DApps distribute tokens that represent ownership. Dapps as web3 applications satisfy the basic properties of decentralisation, safeguarding of user privacy and the lack of censorship amongst others. DApps can be developed for a variety of purposes including gaming, finance, and social media. Other areas such as wallet, governance, property, identity, media, social, security, energy, insurance, health also count as such.
Dapps rely on written code saved on the blockchain to run. These codes bear the instructions specific to the particular function that the dapps perform. These codes are known as smart contracts and once they are saved to the blockchain, they cannot be altered thereby promoting the transparency we talk so much about in web3.0.
Ethereum smart contract powered dapps are the most popular around. They also currently number more than 2900. This accounts nearly for 73% of all dapps out there today(Total = 4073). source: stateofthedapps.com/stats. Notwithstanding this significant statistic, Ethereum has the problem of cost and speed(This will be a special article of its own). We will go ahead to look at some promising alternatives.
Cardano(ADA) - Cardano is rated 9th of all Cryptos(according to CoinMarketCap) and was founded in 2017. It is majorly used by agricultural companies to track fresh produce from field to fork. It was one of the biggest blockchains to successfully use a proof-of-stack consensus mechanism which is more energy efficient than the Blockchain powered proof-of-work scheme. Some notable dapps on Cardano include Revotu(which is a mobile bill payment dapp), Minswap(A DEX which allows you trade Cryptocurrencies), andArdana(This is a Defi dapp that enables the minting and stacking of ADA assets). Another important dapp is Meld which is a decentralised bank that allows for lending and borrowing of crypto assets. Cardano's market cap is currently $11.245b and it trades at $0.3268.
Binance Smart Chain (BNB) - Binance, rated 5th on the Coinmarketcap log is the biggest cryptocurrency exchange globally based on daily trading. Its smart Binance Smart Chain spin-off powers a lot of interesting dapps these days. Some notable Dapps running on it today include Era7 which is a gaming platform available on PC, Android and IOS. It promises to be one of the best game dapps available. Furio is another dapp which serves as a staking and investment platform. However a rule of thumb is to exercise extreme caution when investing in any of such high risk investment platforms. BNB currently sells for $267.28 a piece and has a market cap of $42.7b.
Polygon - This is formerly known as the Matic Network and is 10th on the table. It was launched in October 2017. Polygon was co-founded by Jaynti Kanani, Sandeep Nailwal and Anurag Arjun, two experienced blockchain developers and a business consultant. And it is said to be the first well-structured, easy to use platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. The MATIC is the native token on polygon and is used for payment services on Polygon. It is also used as a settlement currency between users who operate within the Polygon ecosystem. Dapps on the Polygon Blockchain range from Games to Finance to Utilities to High Risk Investments. Some notable ones include QuickSwap and Uniswap which are exchanges; Gainstrade and IDEX which are Defis platforms are also resident on Polygon. Some popular game dapps where users play and earn in the Metaverse include Decentral Games and Ethlas. Polygon has a market cap of $7.4b and retails at about $0.85.
The above examples barely scratch the surface for examples of Blockchains/Crypos that support Dapps. However they number among the popular ones. Others of worthy note include Cardano(ADA), Polkadot(DOT), TRON(TRX), Solana(SOL), Avalanche(AVAX), NEAR Protocol(NEAR) and Cosmos(ATOM). They have all sorts of Dapps running on them currently ranging from DEXs to Games to DeFis.
Later this week, I will return with another article on another application of web3.0. Till then, do have a great week ahead and thank you for reading. Your feedback is always appreciated.
Kindly note: This article was supposed to go out on Saturday, November 19 but the power of gremlins prevailed. Apologies for that.