Immortal dApp Series: Part 2 — Web 3.0 + The DAPP Network
TL;DR
- Moving away from centralized servers is a process that will take time. The DAPP Network is already showing us that it’s possible.
- Blockchain and decentralized apps (dApps) are changing the way that data is stored and managed by removing rent seeking middlemen, disrupting existing systems, and creating new models.
- The DAPP Network allows dApps to provide the same seamless experience as traditional applications, all the while remaining decentralized from the frontend to backend.
In part one of this series on Immortal dApps, we outlined why Immortal dApps can help realize the vision of Web 3.0. In part two we explain in more detail what an Immortal dApp actually is and how the DAPP Network is best positioned to bring them to reality.
The Path to Web 3.0 and Immortal dApps
The vision for Web 3.0 aims to tackle centralization, online censorship, and data breaches that have become commonplace over the last decades.
Web 2.0 has seen power, data and money concentrated in the hands of large companies, with the currency being user data and attention. We’re encouraged to participate and share, however all of our accounts, purchases, and profiles are used and monetized behind closed doors, in exchange for access to products and services.
Currently, there aren’t many options for controlling or limiting who gets our data and how it is used, where it is stored, or who else might gain access to it. These privacy and inefficiency issues are magnified as we see even more smart devices connected to the Internet. We don’t access our accounts from one computer — we have watches, phones, tablets, smart home hubs, and other appliances that are all constantly online. All of our data is centrally stored, creating vulnerable points that can fail or be targeted.
Web 3.0 aims to solve these problems by giving users control and ownership of their data, ensuring that transactions are secure and decentralized exchanges of information. It necessitates a solution that reimagines the current infrastructure and data systems of Web 2.0.
Taking Back Our Data
Decentralization is key to giving the user control and creating a fair online space built on top of open source standardized protocols, allowing any entity or community to compete with tech giants. Moving away from centralized servers is a process that will take time as it needs to be built into numerous new systems, services, and apps. The good news is that examples like the DAPP Network already exist to show us that it’s possible to build equally or more compelling applications in different ways. Blockchain and decentralized apps (dApps) are changing the way that data is stored and managed by removing rent seeking middlemen, disrupting existing systems, and creating new models.
The set of data that is collectively managed through blockchain is referred to by some as a universal state layer. State gives identities to those involved in a transaction, establishes who owns what, and what they can and can’t do. With that information, it becomes easier to manage values and our own transactions without platforms stepping in to hold the state and act as brokers.
Instead, Web 3.0 offers a model where data is stored and shared in multiple points of P2P networks. This is complemented by consensus protocols that store management rules, allowing all participants to have control and security, without the need to trust a 3rd party. Developers can now harness the DAPP Network to realize this vision in order to decentralize their applications across the entire tech stack — from the frontend to the backend to the data they generate, efficiently creating immortal, censorship resistant applications.
Smart Contract Data Access with LiquidOracles
For smart contracts to function, they need information from outside of a network. This real-world information is crucial to the agreements encoded within, but needs to be provided in an electronic format and must be current. To do this, they need to be fed by oracles. DAPP Network offers a unique, multi-chain oracle service, LiquidOracles, that connects software and devices and provides them with external information once a smart contract has been invoked, all without relying on the centralized platforms we use today.
LiquidOracles use cryptographic proofs to provide trustworthy inputs and outputs that are tamper-proof. They connect with any API and systems to supply accurate data for smart contracts.
Using LiquidOracles and IPFS together allows integration of off-chain data in dApps. One can also calculate gas fees by cataloging the average amount of gas consumed per block. They are also useful for on-chain transactions, including calculating slippage on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) or other useful information throughout decentralized finance (DeFi) apps.
Blockchain Data Storage and Indexing with IPFS and vRam
While beneficial for the decentralization reasons we’ve mentioned, using blockchain in this way leads to a lot of data, which needs to be indexed. This requires time and money for developers to create and maintain infrastructure, and leads to servers and databases that are centralized, creating the same issues experienced in our current system.
DAPP Network solves this in another way, using storage systems such as IPFS and vRam that make data easily accessible. Decentralized protocols for indexing blockchain data can be deployed, and the builders of dApps can use them to keep data secure, open, and in the user’s control.
Decentralized Frontends with IPFS
Backend data storage is only one potential use case for IPFS, but it can also be utilized to decentralize and immortalize the front-end user interface of dApps as well. Entire websites could be stored in IPFS to avoid censorship and single points of failure. If any single IPFS node goes offline, the website still loads from other DSPs or IPFS nodes across the globe. This is where Web 3.0 starts to get interesting, distributing unique content through a peer-to-peer network. Once content becomes available, it is immutable. You can’t edit, replace, or delete it. Each update generates a new unique content identifier (CID), allowing previous versions of the same page to be verifiable. For example, anyone could store a local cache in IPFS of any website and be able to prove that it wasn’t altered by comparing the hashes (CIDs) to a public blockchain ledger to maintain an audit trail for any changes or updates. As an additional layer of decentralization, a service like LiquidDNS could be utilized as a censorship resistant registry of domains.
Immortal dApps — unhackable, ungameable applications that can never be taken down — are within our grasp.
Thanks to The DAPP Network suite of decentralized tools, dApps can finally provide the same seamless experience as traditional applications, all the while remaining decentralized from front to back and unlocking unprecedented freedom and control for the average developer and user. The possibilities are limitless, and within reach.
To be continued…
DAPP Network
Voting Portal | DSP Portals | Github | Documentation
DAPP Network Telegram| DAPP Network Gov | DAPP Network Devs
