the advent of the etherion platform in
2015 has worked to provide a virtual
computing infrastructure for running
applications on the blockchain this new
form of program is called a distributed
application or DAP for short aetherium
was the first developer platform for
building distributed applications it was
a foundational general-purpose
blockchain based platform that is a
turing-complete virtual machine meaning
that it can run any computer code
although aetherium was the first and
still the largest platform for building
distributed applications there are now
others such as block stack oreos all of
which provided the underlining
infrastructure for building DAB's
our working definition of a DAP is an
application that runs on a network in a
distributed fashion with participant
information securely protected and
operations executed in a decentralized
fashion across a network of nodes taps
use open source code operate
autonomously with data and records
cryptographically stored on a blockchain
on a technical level a tab is very much
similar to a normal web application
except unlike with the normal web app
where the backend code is running on a
centralized server a dab has its code
running on a distributed peer-to-peer
network a tap can have front-end code
and user interfaces written in any
language just like a normal app as such
taps will often look and feel very much
like regular apps and people will soon
be using them in the coming decade
without even realizing em like all apps
taps perform specific functions whereas
bitcoin is the decentralized value
exchange a decentralized application
aims to achieve functionality beyond
transactions the MIDI exchange value
many types of decentralized apps are
starting to emerge
as the underlining technology continues
to progress already we can see many tabs
the present alternatives to the existing
popular web applications probably the
most successful damp to date is steam it
steam it is a blogging and social
networking websites on top of the steam
it blockchain database the general
concept is very similar to other
blogging websites or social news sites
like Reddit but the text content is
saved in a blockchain using a blockchain
enables rewarding comments and posts
with secure tokens value in this way
users can earn currencies for their
posts and comments likewise for existing
marketplace applications like eBay and
Craigslist we have the decentralized
version open Bazaar open Bazaar is an
open source project developing a
protocol for e-commerce transactions in
a fully decentralized marketplace
because the application connects people
directly via peer-to-peer network it
costs nothing to download and use it
unlike sites like eBay or Amazon there
are no fees to list items and no fees
when an item is sold open Bazaar is not
a company like eBay but an open source
projects each user contribution etwork
equally and is in control of their own
storage and private data
another example is Storch which is the
decentralized cloud storage application
similar to Dropbox
storge is based on blockchain technology
and peer-to-peer protocols to provide
secure private and a-fishing cloud
storage system the application
incentivizes storage providers and
connects them with those who require it
each file saved on the application is
shredded encrypted and spread across the
network until you're ready to use it
again the keys to the database remain
with the owners meaning the data is not
accessible by a centralized cloud
provider there are many other examples
of Datz but the general concepts can be
to any area that requires secure records
and benefits from decentralization these
applications are automated which means
they can operate at very low or even
zero cost because of their snaps may be
used to disrupt the existing platform
economy as whole platforms like uber or
Airbnb may eventually be converted into
dabs that run automatically without the
need for the centralized platform the
advantages of dabs is that they're fully
automated have superior fault tolerance
and trustless execution these
decentralized apps potentially represent
the next generation of computing