What Are DApps?

DApps stands for decentralized applications. They are similar to normal apps and offer similar functions. The key difference is DApps run on a peer-to-peer network, a distributed computing system, which is a blockchain network. Therefore, no one person or entity has control of the network.

There are many different use cases for DApps, including games, social media platforms, cryptocurrency wallets, and decentralized finance (DeFi). In addition, decentralized applications drive their activities through tokenized systems (digital tokens created using smart contracts).

DApps Characteristics

• Open Source — The source code is intentionally made available to the public, which means that anyone is able to verify, use, and modify the code.

• Decentralized — Since DApps run on the blockchain networks, they are not controlled by a single entity or authority. By contrast, they are maintained by multiple users, and the data and records are public.

• Cryptographically Secure — The application is protected by cryptography, meaning that all the data is recorded and maintained in a public blockchain where no single point of failure.

Advantages of DApps

• Since DApps are decentralized, they are not subject to censorship, which means that it is difficult for governments or powerful individuals to control the network. Conversely, a compromised centralized server may paralyze the entire application network, making it temporarily or permanently unavailable. In addition, centralized systems often suffer from data leakage or theft, putting companies and individual users at risk.
• DApps rely on a peer-to-peer system, which ensures that DApps can continue to work even if a personal computer or part of the network is disabled.
• Since DApps are made from smart contracts, they can easily integrate cryptocurrencies into the basic functions of the Dapps.
• The open-source feature of DApps encourages the extensive development of its ecosystem, enabling developers to build better DApps with more useful or interesting features.

Summing up, DApps are designed as open-source projects that run on top of a blockchain network. In turn, the distributed nature of these networks provides transparency, decentralization, and resistance to attacks.