Famous DApp CryptoKitties went viral at the end of 2017. Its popularity soared as it once accounted for more than 13% of transactions on Ethereum network. Have you ever wondered what is DApp and how to use it? Let’s check it out!
What is DApp?
The full name of DApp is Decentralized Application. DApps are typically hosted on blockchain, the distributed peer-to-peer network consisted of nodes from all over the world. Similar to social media, communication applications and streaming media, however these applications are built on Internet 1.0 framework. DApps on the other hand are applications written based on blockchain technology that is helmed as the Internet 2.0 framework.
What distinguishes DApps from ordinary apps is DApps can run without a middleman and don’t need them to handle users’ data. Hence, DApps return the control of data back to the users and are able to transfer value directly without the interference of any middle sources.
DApps are functioned by the code written in the smart contract in advance which is normally open source. This allows everyone to review the codes but not able to make alterations to them. Relying on distributed networks, DApps are immune to downtime error caused by single point of failure and are not owned or controlled by any particular person.
Explore thousands of DApps
On State of the DApps, DAppRadar or the DApp aggregator platform DApphub recently launched by Cointelegraph, you can find over thousands of Ethereum DApps on these sites. Aside from exploring many different interesting DApps, you can also view their statistics, like daily active users, Ether balance, trading volume and the ranking list. At the moment, crypto exchanges and online games are the two popular types of DApps being developed.
Decentralized exchanges like JOYSO which is powered by smart contracts is actually a type of DApp, carrying the decentralized nature. The risk of trading on decentralized exchange is reduced to minimum, because exchange itself doesn’t act as a middleman to hold users funds or data during trading process. Users of decentralized exchanges remain anonymous and are able to start trading immediately as they are not required to register themselves on the exchanges.
How to use DApp
As most of the DApps are built with smart contracts, so we’ll take Ethereum DApps for example.
The steps to start using DApps are:
1. Create a wallet
Since DApps are built on blockchain network, the very first thing you’ll need to do is to create a wallet that can connect to the blockchain network. This wallet will act as a gateway between browser and blockchain network when you are going to interact with DApps.
The widely used Ethereum wallet is MetaMask, which has a browser add-on available on Chrome, Firefox and Brave. MetaMask enables users to connect to the Ethereum network from a browser and start using DApps. As for smartphones, Cipher, Trust and Toshi are common choices. They have browsers embedded in the Ethereum wallet which act with the same functions as the MetaMask.
2. Send some Ether to the wallet
After setting up the wallet, you have to send Ether into it. The reason is during the process of using DApp, you’ll have to consume some computing power from the blockchain network which is to verify your actions that will cost you some gas fee. Gas fee is paid in ether to the nodes which maintain the operation of blockchain network.
3. Start using DApps
After having a wallet with some Ether in it, you can start using DApps. Browse the DApps on the browsers which were mentioned above and feel the technology advancement.
Remember, JOYSO is also a kind of DApp. The steps to use JOYSO is identical to using DApps!
