Decentralized Applications
[1] Antonopoulos, A. (2018): Mastering Ethereum Implementing Digital Contracts
[2] Egloff, P. (2019): Blockchain für die Praxis: Kryptowährungen, Smart Contracts, ICOs und Tokens
[3] Heines, R. (2017): Blockchain Technology Applications: A Conceptual Framework from a Supply Chain Perspective
Dapps (Decentralized Application) are applications that are mostly or entirely decentralized. This means that at least one aspect of the application (e.g. backend and frontend software or data storage) is decentralized giving the user full sovereignty and independence[1], [2].
Compared to a centralized application, the decentralized application can guarantee resilience, transparency and censorship resistance. Every user can use the application under the same conditions and has access to the source code. By organizing a Blockchain platform, a Dapp will always be accessible and have no downtime as long as the platform is operating [1]. In practice, there are only a few completely decentralized applications, most are based on isolated centralized services [1].
There are three different types of Dapps [3]:
-
Type 1: Decentralized applications that rely only on their own Blockchain protocol
-
Type 2: Decentralized applications with protocols that reference coins or tokens
-
Type 3: Applications that interact completely autonomously with other systems
