When it comes to crypto, we hear the word “dapp” thrown around, but what are decentralized applications? And how “decentralized” are they in reality?
For an app to be considered decentralized a few things need to be true:
- Protocol changes must be determined by user network consensus
- Value must be stored in generated digital assets - coins/tokens
- No one entity can own a majority of coins/tokens
- Data must be stored on the blockchain
- Rewards are distributed to network users
In the current state of affairs, most “dapps” do not store 100% of data on the blockchain.
On the contrary, an app using purely blockchain data storage would be slow and not user-friendly.
Therefore, we find that many dapps choose to build on top of the blockchain base layer to store certain bits of information, serve a frontend, run business logic, or provide additional utilities to users.
The reason for this is twofold:
- Decentralization provides significant obstacles to developers.
- Most users don’t care.
Obstacles of decentralization
Developing apps is hard enough as it is. When you add decentralization into the mix, things don’t get less complicated. Here are a few reasons why:
Gas prices - A majority of dapps are built on Ethereum, which comes with high gas prices and slow transaction times.
Difficult languages - coding in Solidity or Rust comes with its own host of obstacles. For one, Solidity doesn’t run error messages, which provides an obvious problem when creating smart contracts that cannot be “updated” or changed once implemented.
Monetization - there is not one place for developers to market and monetize dapps. Although dapp.com and dappstore.me have arisen as places for developers to market their apps, these resources are merely lists of apps, and they do not provide users any real value aside from this.
Because of these issues, it is usually not worth it for developers to create entirely decentralized “dapps”.
Support from Magic Square
Good news for developers, Magic Square is allowing developers to more easily create quality decentralized applications. Magic Square is the first real crypto app store to provide true value to app developers and users alike with an interoperable, cross-chain integrated experience.
Create with Common Languages
For one, Magic Square gives its developers access to an open-source SDK that supports common programming languages like Java, NodsJS, and C++. This way, app developers can focus on the quality of their ideas rather than the complexity of obscure languages.
Multi-Chain SDK
Magic Square cannot change gas prices on Ethereum, but since its SDK is multi-chain, developers are not bound to Ethereum.
With Magic SDK, developers can choose which chains to build on. You can build one app on Ethereum and another on Solana (with the same SDK), depending on the needs of the specific app.
Magic Square also believes that in the near future, on-chain transaction costs will become an insignificant parameter, causing more developers to adopt the fully decentralized approach.
Monetize on the Magic Store
There is no better place for developers to market their apps than on the Magic Store. This app store is not merely a list of apps; it’s a real marketplace for users to discover and use community-vetted apps.
Creator Rewards
Magic Square is dedicated to its developers just as much as its users. Grant funds are available to qualifying developers, and Magic Square itself promotes user activity across apps with community challenges and prizes. Magic Square even pays users to be active on your apps with a use-to-earn reward model.
User Input
At the end of the day, what matters to developers most is that users will use their apps.
There may be a few blockchain “purists” out there, but for the most part, users are concerned with their immediate experience.
Most users just want their apps to work. They don’t care what percent of data is stored on the blockchain; they just want apps that are fast, secure, and useful.
Furthermore, apps built exclusively on-chain would not provide a good enough user experience to satisfy most users. This is because of long transaction load times and high gas prices.
What concerns most dapp users is that smart contracts dictate monetary transactions and store them on-chain, to ensure that their assets are safe. But individual apps can only do so much for users in terms of security and blockchain storage.
Furthermore, Not all issues of security come from how much data is stored on the blockchain. Rather, user interface comes with its own security issues, like login credentials for example.
One platform for all
Magic Square is filling the void by uniting all crypto apps, DeFi, NFTs, and blockchains under one roof to create an integrated, interoperable experience for users.
In the current state of affairs, users are required to keep track of a multitude of login credentials for each app and service they want to use. These details can be lost or compromised.
Magic Square solves this issue by securing a one-click login across all apps with Self-Sovereign Identity technology (SSI). SSI allows users to easily track which apps have access to personal information and grant/revoke app permissions with the swipe of their finger.
Furthermore, the Magic Store only features community vetted apps, so if a specific app is too centralized or unsafe, the community will vote it down.
Final Thoughts
Although decentralization presents its challenges to crypto app developers and users alike, Magic Square helps minimize many of these to bring more decentralization and quality to the crypto app space as a whole. Join our social community and follow our blog for more useful information, updates, and project developments.
