What are dApps? A Beginner’s Guide to Decentralized Applications

Catalyst
3 min readJan 17, 2023

“dApps” — You’ve heard the term, but what are they?

Decentralized applications, or dApps for short, are a new type of software that runs on a decentralized network, rather than on a single computer or server. These dApps are built on blockchain technology and are changing the way we think about applications and the internet. In this beginner’s guide, we’ll explain what dApps are, how they work, and why they are important.

What are dApps?

A dApp is a decentralized application that runs on a blockchain or other decentralized network. Unlike traditional applications, which are controlled by a single entity, such as a company or organization, dApps are controlled by a decentralized network of users. This means that there is no single point of failure and no single entity that can control or shut down the dApp.

dApps are typically open-source, which means that anyone can view and contribute to the code. They also use decentralized storage, such as IPFS, which allows for the storage and retrieval of data without the need for a centralized server.

How do dApps work?

dApps use smart contracts to automate the execution of certain actions based on predefined rules and conditions. A smart contract is a self-executing…

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