A real-world overview of developing and shipping a production-grade ÐApp — the pragmatic approach
No deep sh*t — blockchain/Ethereum powered applications don’t have to be complex
There’s a misconception that blockchain powered web applications (aka ÐApps) must run on some complicated, unordinary software stack. This isn’t the case. ÐApps don’t have to be complex or difficult to use. Rather, blockchain / smart contract functionality can be encapsulated into a single layer of your stack. This layer is decoupled and modular enough that you have the freedom (because of the great eco-system built around Ethereum, notably web3, MetaMask, and Infura) to integrate this layer into your stack of choice.
The future is now — a new class of applications has recently become feasible. No need to license expensive software and/or database(s) to build mission-critical, robust, and secure applications. A small team can ship this class of application on a tight budget and timeline. Both you (the developer/company) and your customer/user can benefit greatly from blockchain technology when applied appropriately.
The stack
Foundational layer: A system of smart contracts running on the Ethereum blockchain. All critical functionality and state contained here.
Ethereum ⟠ Bridge: Interact with these smart contracts via web3. The web3 interface is supported by the client’s web3 provider. This provider gives the client a way to connect to the blockchain, and the web3 API means you write code once that works *everywhere (not really, but almost/mostly, as usual).
Backend: Serverless ⚡️ with AWS ☁️ provider
Frontend: Vue.js with Vue CLI 3. iView component library, TailWind CSS framework
Blog post on our frontend coming soon
Two immediately obvious benefits
No usernames or passwords to manage. No authentication/identity provider. Easy, quick, reliable, and secure 🔐.
No credit card information to enter and manage. None of the associated costs/fees (ie https://stripe.com/ch/pricing 😱). Easy, quick, reliable, and secure 🔐.
Blockchain can give your application superpowers 💪
At the moment, [the commercial real estate] market is dominated by a select few investors who are able to shoulder big, chunky, illiquid investments. Tokenizing these assets will create a more accessible and efficient market. The future of commercial real estate is one where investments are liquid, possible in small stakes, and easily manageable (i.e. investors can manage risk much more effectively)
The core value enabled by our platform, previously infeasible, is bolded above ☝️.
Legal/Regulatory
Think of the repetition/redundancy of legal processes (including notary) that occur with every single real estate transaction. Our legal framework has effectively automated this and abstracted it from our user (the investor). The accessibility and efficiency gain (and associated cost and time reduction) from this alone is outstanding. This was made possible by our smart contracts enabling a solid legal framework to be built on-top-of/alongside them.
Is this solid, and does it work?
Our smart contracts have been audited, our ÐApp has undergone penetration testing, and we’re running an open-ended bug 🐛 bounty for our entire platform that awards up to $10k for critical issues. No serious (or even moderate) issues have been discovered so far.
Our legal framework is approved in the triple-a jurisdiction of Lichtenstein/Switzerland. A regulated platform, blockimmo offers an unprecedented level of investor protection. The internet could burn down and you’d still be the rightful owner of the real estate you invested-in/purchased via blockimmo.
Part two?
This was a high level overview of why and how you can develop a ÐApp in the real world. Maybe more of a case-study of why/how blockimmo did this. Based on comments/feedback I may go into more detail on specific part(s) in a future post. In the meantime, check out our ÐApp, here: https://blockimmo.ch, and try out our on-boarding and/or investing process! Feedback and constructive criticism is welcome!
Our security token offering (STO), where 20% of blockimmo’s shares/stock will be sold to the public, opens in a few days. Investing in our STO is exactly as if you were investing in real estate via our platform. And can be done here: https://blockimmo.ch/listing/blockimmo. On-board now to be ready https://blockimmo.ch/profile!
Did we spark your interest? Would you like to find out more about our platform, technology, or meet us? We’re happy to invite you to our offices in Crypto Valley Zug. Let’s keep in touch! https://blockimmo.ch
