Ethereum is the first, biggest, and most well-known dapps platform. However, in recent years, competitors have entered the space, hoping to topple Ethereum from its throne. Here, we\u2019ll take a look at the competitors in the dapps space. The goal is to give a fair overview of the various dapps platforms. In the end, we\u2019ll share predictions for how the dapps race may shake out. But we\u2019re early in the development of these platforms, and a lot could still change.<\/span><\/p>\n This was a breakthrough for blockchain. Bitcoin\u2019s blockchain wasn\u2019t compatible with developers building on top of it. For security reasons, Bitcoin\u2019s code is <\/span>not Turing-complete<\/span><\/a>, meaning it doesn\u2019t support certain core functionality required in programming, like loops and conditional statements. The EVM solved that problem by creating a layer above the blockchain. Along with the EVM came a compiler for a lesser-known programming language called Solidity.<\/span><\/p>\n While there are some other options, Solidity is the programming language you\u2019ll need to know if you want to write a smart contract on Ethereum. Without getting too deep into the technical details, Solidity is a language that suits writing smart contracts. It\u2019s <\/span>strongly typed<\/span><\/a>, meaning data is codified into clearly defined types. It also undergoes <\/span>static type checking<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to test for errors prior to running.<\/span><\/p>\n As we\u2019ll see later, other dapps platforms have decided to avoid Solidity. They believe forcing developers to learn a new language is an unnecessary hurdle. Instead, they implement compilers that allow developers to work in popular languages like JavaScript, C#, and Java. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum\u2019s CEO, is <\/span>openly disdainful<\/span><\/a> of platforms using other coding languages. Ethereum chose Solidity for a reason, and other languages aren\u2019t well suited to writing contracts, according to Buterin.<\/span><\/p>\n Solidity allows you to write a smart contract. However, smart contracts are only one part of a dapp. They\u2019re the back-end, behind the scenes wiring for dapps. You also need a front-end user interface. Other competitors are integrating complete solutions for dapps, both front-end and back-end. On Ethereum, however, you\u2019ll need to use a third-party service to create your user interface.<\/span><\/p>\n At least, for now. Ethereum is under constant development, and support for dapp UIs could come in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n Ethereum\u2019s status as first, biggest, and most well known puts it in a league of its own compared to other dapps platforms. If it continues its current trajectory of development and partnership, it will be difficult for any competitor to keep up.<\/span><\/p>\n That said, Ethereum admittedly has scalability problems. It currently only supports 15 transactions per second. It also uses considerable energy and computing power with its current proof-of-work consensus system. These key issues will be addressed in upcoming Ethereum updates. Ethereum has announced it will implement <\/span>Plasma<\/span><\/a> to address scalability, making transactions smaller and faster. For over a year now, Ethereum has also hinted at changing their consensus mechanism to <\/span>proof-of-stake<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n The larger lesson here is Ethereum\u2019s strong team and developer community will likely overcome the obstacles currently in its path. Its dominance to date has made it one of the best developed, most respected projects in the blockchain world.<\/span><\/p>\n Ethereum is highly focused on building up its user adoption. On its public blockchain, Ethereum is making it easier for developers to use the EVM. They\u2019re establishing industry standards for creating certain types of smart contracts, like the ERC-20 protocol for example. <\/span><\/p>\n However, Ethereum is also working hard on building its private partnerships. The <\/span>Enterprise Ethereum Alliance<\/span><\/a> has many major companies involved. These include Microsoft, UBS, Samsung, Mastercard, Intel, Accenture, BP, J.P. Morgan, and Deloitte, just to name a few. Ethereum is becoming the go-to resource for open source standards for blockchain development. <\/span><\/p>\n Vitalik expects an <\/span>entire spectrum of blockchain adoption<\/span><\/a> – public transparent blockchains, private secure blockchains, and mixed solutions.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI expect in the long term we’ll see every possible combination of public and private emerge, including pure consortium chains, consortium chains connected to public chains via relays, consortium chains with fraud proofs enforced on public chains (ie. plasma and similar systems), purely public chains, and so forth. The challenge right now is to get the scalability of public chains higher, and come up with better answers for privacy challenges.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Long-term, Ethereum will cater to all these types of blockchain needs. Ethereum has by far the largest collection of public dapps of any platform. They\u2019re most likely the most popular provider of private decentralized solutions as well. This institutional and corporate support is where Ethereum\u2019s true power lies.<\/span><\/p>\n [thrive_leads id=’5219′]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lisk<\/span><\/a> is coming up on a year old, so it\u2019s still a fairly new platform for decentralized apps. In fact, much of Lisk\u2019s product and claims are unreleased or untested as of yet, making it difficult to give a detailed evaluation of the platform. <\/span><\/p>\n That said, developer <\/span>accessibility<\/span><\/a> is Lisk\u2019s unique angle. They want to make it as easy as possible to create a decentralized app. They do this with a pure Javascript environment, from front-end user interface to back-end interaction with the blockchain. In contrast to Ethereum, however, the dapps themselves don\u2019t live on the main blockchain. Instead, each dapp has its own side chain, maintained by the dapp\u2019s users. This framework offers flexibility and insulates the Lisk mainchain from code issues in user-created dapps.<\/span><\/p>\n Lisk wants to make it easy for developers to begin working on the blockchain. The ultimate goal being attracting new developers to work on decentralized software solutions. Lisk\u2019s Software Development Kit (SDK) has not yet launched. The alpha version of the SDK is set to <\/span>launch on February 20<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n Preliminary analysis from software experts casts some doubt on Lisk\u2019s ease of use claims. First, Lisk\u2019s framework provides <\/span>few protections for developers<\/span><\/a>. With Ethereum, the EVM will refuse to compile bad code, protecting the blockchain from user-generated errors. On Lisk, this isn\u2019t the case. Infinite loops, unbounded memory growth, no memory tracking support, an\u00a0unsecure sandbox, and non-deterministic behavior are all problems for Lisk.<\/span><\/p>\n Lisk argues that because all dapps operate on a side chain, bad code would require a hard fork of the side chain but would not affect Lisk\u2019s main chain. This may be the case, but it\u2019s still an annoyance for developers to say the least. Many have opined that <\/span>learning Solidity is trivial<\/span><\/a> for new developers compared to learning all the pitfalls that could come from using Lisk\u2019s javascript platform.<\/span><\/p>\n That said, Lisk is still good for <\/span>specific applications<\/span><\/a>. However, it seems like Lisk is limited in its scope. It certainly doesn\u2019t have the technical foundation to compete with a Goliath like Ethereum. In the end, it will mostly be a smaller project for niche uses, developers dipping their toes in the smart contracts water, and dapps that are too big to use a mainnet all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n QTUM<\/span><\/a> (pronounced quantum) is a Singapore-based dapps platform built on a combination of code from Bitcoin and Ethereum. In addition to using much of Bitcoin\u2019s security, QTUM implements proof-of-stake consensus and the Ethereum Virtual Machine.<\/span><\/p>\n QTUM\u2019s support for the EVM means dapps from Ethereum could easily be ported over to QTUM. New dapps on QTUM also use Solidity for development. This makes for <\/span>low switching costs<\/span><\/a> from Ethereum to QTUM, because QTUM runs the same open source EVM code. In the future, QTUM hopes to support other virtual machines, not just the EVM.<\/span><\/p>\n The QTUM team spends a lot of time touting their stable platform built on Bitcoin\u2019s foundation. Using battle-tested code means they\u2019re less vulnerable to attack than code developed from scratch. In addition, the proof-of-stake consensus protocol means they use less energy to process transactions than proof-of-work systems.<\/span><\/p>\n The stability of QTUM\u2019s architecture is part of their \u201cbuilt for business\u201d marketing strategy aimed at institutional uses of smart contracts and dapps. Additionally, they add an abstract accounting layer to the ecosystem. This reduces the computational load on the mainnet, <\/span>improving scalability<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n QTUM will also offer support for converting human-readable agreements into blockchain-ready smart contracts. Whether this will be QTUM developers, private contractors, or some other system is still unclear.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s architecture also supports lite wallets, including mobile wallets for storing and transacting in QTUM. This makes QTUM one of the first projects to enter the realm of mobile smart contracts.<\/span><\/p>\n QTUM has a lot of cool features and new technologies they\u2019re bringing to the table. In the end, however, features alone won\u2019t win the dapps race. The smart developers at Ethereum or any other of QTUM\u2019s competitors will watch QTUM to find which of its features are attracting the most attention. Then, they\u2019ll implement those features as part of their own platform.<\/span><\/p>\n The success of QTUM relies on its adoption by major companies. Since fancy features will come and go with ongoing development, QTUM will need to secure major partnerships in their home region of Southeast Asia. This will be difficult in China, where NEO has a commanding lead and governmental support for their dapps platform. However, growing notoriety for QTUM could lead to important early partnerships that will make or break the company.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cardano<\/span><\/a> is so new that it\u2019s difficult to say much about this platform yet. It’s a project from Charles Hoskinson, <\/span>one of Ethereum\u2019s co-founders<\/span><\/a>. The idea for Cardano came in 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n They imagined a dapps platform built on scientific, peer-reviewed research. This approach is appealing in terms of forward-thinking, scalability, and security. However, it means the project will move slowly. The first version of the Cardano network won\u2019t be ready until 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n While we don\u2019t know all the details yet, it\u2019s clear Cardano will be a dual-layered solution. One layer will be an account layer, much like the ledgers of other cryptocurrencies with basic transaction information only. The second will be a control layer that manages all the metadata associated with smart contracts; why, how, and when funds are released; and identity of participants and items in the transaction.<\/span><\/p>\n The separation of <\/span>transaction data and metadata<\/span><\/a> decreases needed storage and increases scalability. Cardano will also implement proof-of-stake to reduce energy consumption.<\/span><\/p>\n Cardano is programmed in Haskell, a language for <\/span>business applications and data analysis<\/span><\/a>. As such, Cardano\u2019s future applications are likely to be financial or organizational.<\/span><\/p>\n Cardano is still years away from widespread adoption. However, its insistence on peer-reviewed development indicates that Cardano will be playing the long game. Cardano\u2019s path to dominance would likely require Ethereum make a major misstep several years from now. If so, Cardano could sweep up market share as a more trusted, reliably developed option.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n NEO<\/span><\/a> (originally known as AntShares) is the first open source blockchain project to come out of China. It\u2019s genesis block launched in December 2016, but founders Da Hongfei and Erik Zhang were working on the idea for years before launching the network.<\/span><\/p>\n NEO\u2019s dapp platform includes support for developing in C# and Java. In the future, it will support Python and Go as well. NEO also uses dBFT consensus, a variant of proof-of-stake that offers even faster performance. NEO is built for business, with its network currently capable of 1,000 transactions\/second and theoretically capable of 10,000\/second. It\u2019s a large scale contender for enterprise use.<\/span><\/p>\n The focus for NEO is on digitizing the Chinese economy. They hope to provide identity services, product tracking, and payment options through their dapp community.<\/span><\/p>\n NEO has existing adoption<\/span><\/a> with several built-out dapps on the platform. They\u2019ve also worked with key companies like <\/span>Microsoft and Alibaba<\/span><\/a> on blockchain solutions. NEO\u2019s sister company, Onchain, builds private blockchain solutions for major companies throughout China, giving NEO a clear advantage with Chinese enterprise dapps.<\/span><\/p>\n NEO co-founder and CEO, Da Hongfei, is known for his influence with the Chinese government. He helped guide the government through the early days of cryptocurrency and took key meetings during the Chinese ICO ban in 2017. As a result, NEO has received status as essentially a <\/span>government-endorsed platform<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\nEthereum: King of the Dapps<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"ethereum](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/ethereumlogo-300x100.png\")
Right now, <\/span>Ethereum<\/span><\/a> is the undisputed leader in smart contracts, decentralized apps, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Two and a half years ago, <\/span>Ethereum started the smart contracts movement<\/span><\/a>, introducing a virtual machine that could process a programming language on top of the blockchain. Ethereum announced that they aimed to become the \u201cworld\u2019s decentralized computer.\u201d The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compiles and runs code on the decentralized Ethereum blockchain. Anyone can use it to create decentralized smart contracts.<\/span><\/p>\nWhy Solidity?<\/span><\/h3>\n
Creating a UI<\/span><\/h3>\n
Ethereum\u2019s Weakness<\/span><\/h3>\n
Where Ethereum is Heading<\/span><\/h3>\n
Lisk: Building a Simple, Complete Dapp Package<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"lisk](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/lisklogo-300x185.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIs Lisk a Developer\u2019s Dream?<\/span><\/h3>\n
What is Lisk Good For?<\/span><\/h3>\n
QTUM: Merging EVM with Bitcoin\u2019s Base Code<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/qtumlogo-300x173.png\")
<\/p>\nBuilt for Business: Security and Scalability<\/span><\/h3>\n
QTUM\u2019s Other Cool Features<\/span><\/h3>\n
QTUM\u2019s Future Success<\/span><\/h3>\n
Cardano: The New Nerd on the Block<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"cardano](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/cardanologo1-300x169.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCardano\u2019s Basic Architecture<\/span><\/h3>\n
Cardano\u2019s Long Play<\/span><\/h3>\n
NEO: China\u2019s Answer to Ethereum<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"neo](\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/neologo-300x131.png\")
<\/p>\nNEO\u2019s Foothold in China<\/span><\/h3>\n