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Dapps

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Re: Dapps

#101

Post by luismmolina »

gh1 wrote: post #95
htormey wrote: post #7

So what Dapps does anyone here use apart from decentralized exchanges and crypto kitties? One I came across recently that looks promising is joy stream: http://joystream.co Joy stream appears to be a service which rewards people for hosting torrents. I could see this being used by a lot of people. Are their any services that provide usage figures for any of these Dapps? I’d be curious to know how much they are used a…

Golem (decentralized computing for rendering, machine learning etc.) just went into beta yesterday.

Only works with Blender at the moment

Re: Dapps

#102

Post by atomical »

RexetBlell wrote: post #20
htormey wrote: post #7

So what Dapps does anyone here use apart from decentralized exchanges and crypto kitties? One I came across recently that looks promising is joy stream: http://joystream.co Joy stream appears to be a service which rewards people for hosting torrents. I could see this being used by a lot of people. Are their any services that provide usage figures for any of these Dapps? I’d be curious to know how much they are used a…

The Dai stable coin. Many different smart contracts are constantly working together to keep the token worth very close to 1 USD: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/dai/

This isn't a dapp.

Re: Dapps

#103

Post by runewell »

sargun wrote: post #83

So, I might be an idiot. I investigated “Dapps” the other day, and I’m struggling to see the point of these. Yes, they use a blockchain to store their data, and their data manipulation logic (“contract”, or schema, and stored procedures as we’d call it in the RDBMS / Monolith days). The UI, and such is all run by some centralized entity. If the App needs cryptocurrency in order to work, you have to run your own walle…

I understand the frustration, as someone working on apps in the space it is clear that there is much to be done.

Dapps right now are still a work in progress and very early. Most of the issues you brought up are known in the space and are actively being worked on. For example, UI file storage is being tackled via the work of ETH Swarm + ENS (also Mist browser), EOS Storage, IPFS Filecoin, etc. Running a full node is not necessarily required, you could immediately access a decentralized network via a light client on many platforms.

Ultimately the end goal for Dapps are to merge the benefits of decentralization (always-available, secure, permissionless, distributed, censorship-resistant, etc) into traditional application models, and in some instances create entirely new types of applications.

As I've said before, when consumers speak of "the cloud" they are usually describing something that sounds much more like decentralized platforms than current centralized solutions. Long-term I think decentralized platforms are going to change every industry in some way. Even from just an accounting perspective it's hard to see how this tech won't change the way we manage and transfer funds.

Re: Dapps

#104

Post by WorldMaker »

ccostes wrote: post #82
WorldMaker wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but when vetting a baseball player you check the batting average; when handicapping a horse you check the races they've lost for conditions they can't handle as well; when comparing Halo player stats you check the kill/death ratio. Vetting a VC only by wins is missing quite a bit of information, presumably. It can at the very least tell you about potential blind spots and some idea how much actual skill may be…

I think the analogy breaks down somewhat due to the relative scale of their misses vs. hits. A batter can only get so many runs with one hit, but a good investment can make all of the misses look like rounding errors.

Then maybe you are unfamiliar with my analogies?

A batter can help win a series, especially the World Series, and make all their losses look uninteresting. But you still are going to at least check their batting average if you are looking to trade them.

A horse can win a major stakes race, such as the Kentucky Derby, and bring in a massive purse (and eventual stud rights) that makes any losses look like warmup rounds. But before heading to the betting window you are still going to check if they've lost any big rainy races if it's raining on Derby Day.

A Halo player can win a championship or tournament and no one will question any losses they've had. But you still are going to want some idea of their kill/death efficiency before scouting them for your team in the next deathmatch.

Re: Dapps

#105

Post by jjallen »

hudon wrote: post #94

> The bottom line for me is that we are finally seeing some useful decentralized applications being built for consumers on these blockchains. I don't know if the word "decentralized" should be used so merrily. Research was published recently [0] showing that the blockchain protocol requires a central authority to prevent coordination failures and externalities. Maybe these "useful decentralized applications" should c…

What is the "blockchain protocol"? I think we really need to pick A blockchain and criticize it specifically.

And with applications: some will be more expensive, some won't be. Ethereum developers are already exploring ways for dapps to pay for gas instead of users (searching for link).

Re: Dapps

#106

Post by tshannon »

hudon wrote: post #94

> The bottom line for me is that we are finally seeing some useful decentralized applications being built for consumers on these blockchains. I don't know if the word "decentralized" should be used so merrily. Research was published recently [0] showing that the blockchain protocol requires a central authority to prevent coordination failures and externalities. Maybe these "useful decentralized applications" should c…

I'm betting the future will be more of a hybrid of both approaches. Either that or DAPs will be relegated to tech and / or privacy conscious circles.

Re: Dapps

#107

Post by shazow »

sargun wrote: post #83

So, I might be an idiot. I investigated “Dapps” the other day, and I’m struggling to see the point of these. Yes, they use a blockchain to store their data, and their data manipulation logic (“contract”, or schema, and stored procedures as we’d call it in the RDBMS / Monolith days). The UI, and such is all run by some centralized entity. If the App needs cryptocurrency in order to work, you have to run your own walle…

You can host the UI wherever you want. You can put it on IPFS, you can broadcast it as a bittorrent, you can put it on Github, you can put it in a pastebin, you can even put it on the blockchain.

A lot of developers choose to have a replica hosted on traditional HTTP for easy onboarding, but the point is that the application itself can be completely decoupled from the developer.

Even if the developer hosts their app on their own domain, there is nothing stopping you from forking it and replicating/hosting it elsewhere. It's like the ultimate extreme of open source, but also applied to APIs that can't be taken away.

For example, you can launch a smart contract which hard-codes an IPFS hash to a GUI that can never be changed, even if the original owner wanted to.

It's more about what can be done, rather than what is being done today. The possibilities are inspiring and attractive.

Re: Dapps

#108

Post by aaavl2821 »

WorldMaker wrote: post #80
mathattack wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A VC is willing to take 20 flops to get one breakout bet.

Sure, but when vetting a baseball player you check the batting average; when handicapping a horse you check the races they've lost for conditions they can't handle as well; when comparing Halo player stats you check the kill/death ratio. Vetting a VC only by wins is missing quite a bit of information, presumably. It can at the very least tell you about potential blind spots and some idea how much actual skill may be…

And batting .300 is considered good -- high rate of failure doesn't necessarily mean something is bad. The metric VCs are judged on is financial return. If they invest in one company that gets them 200x return and 20 that lost all money, they've still done well at their job

Re: Dapps

#109

Post by aaavl2821 »

common_ wrote: post #24

So much of VC funding is just about being in the right place at the right time. A lot of these guys seem like geniuses because of winning bets, but that's because nobody talks about their flops. It's entertaining watching all of the VCs who have made a major bet on crypto, who are now doubling down on what looks more like an overheated casino losing steam. Fred Wilson might end up watching the tide go out on this one…

The success metric in VC is financial return (IRR or cash proceeds / cash invested). % of investments that succeed or fail is not really that important. The VC model is based on finding a few really big investments at the cost of many that don't work out. Something like 60% of VC returns come from less than 10% of deals

Re: Dapps

#110

Post by hudon »

jjallen wrote: post #105
hudon wrote: post #94

> The bottom line for me is that we are finally seeing some useful decentralized applications being built for consumers on these blockchains. I don't know if the word "decentralized" should be used so merrily. Research was published recently [0] showing that the blockchain protocol requires a central authority to prevent coordination failures and externalities. Maybe these "useful decentralized applications" should c…

What is the "blockchain protocol"? I think we really need to pick A blockchain and criticize it specifically. And with applications: some will be more expensive, some won't be. Ethereum developers are already exploring ways for dapps to pay for gas instead of users (searching for link).

They define what blockchain is in the first two sections of the paper. Their model of the blockchain applies to both Bitcoin and Ethereum, for example, and seems general enough to apply to most networks people today refer to as "blockchain".
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