HACKER Q&A
📣 dxyz

Decentralized applications overrated?


I've seen a lot of excitement surrounding apps that leverage blockchain when in reality they could've been developed with a traditional stack (e.g. polymarket, bitclout, NBA topshot). Are there really compelling benefits? The main benefits I've seen cited are security and trust. But most users already trust companies (especially in the US) and security breaches are uncommon. Given all the hype, I feel like I'm missing something.

  👤 capableweb Accepted Answer ✓
Are you asking about decentralized applications or applications that use various blockchains? Because the two are very different.

I still know of no transfer technology that is superior to BitTorrent. No better internet protocol than TCP/IP and HTTP. Scuttlebutt is running the best social network. Tor still holds the candle for best VPN. Even Microsoft use p2p technology for distributing OS updates ("Delivery Optimization" they call it). Matrix seems to be gaining ground in the chatting space as well and will be P2P at one point.

So no, I don't think it's overrated. I think a lot of applications could actually be made better with a P2P or local-first mindset.

👤 geoah
> But most users already trust companies (especially in the US) and security breaches are uncommon.

I am not sure about this assumption. Googling "trust in facebook" will include many posts from US news outlets about problems people have since the Cambridge Analytica thingie.

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But, back to your question.

I personally think that there are some significant differences between decentralized and blockchain based applications so I'll be separating the two.

As a user I am interested in decentralized (and open) protocols as provide the ability for me to "own" my data in different ways. I can choose the app that I use, I own and can optionally host my data, it's harder to get deplatformed/shadowbanned, and I know that the service will not go away the moment the company stops making money. It's also easier to put my money where my mouth is and sponsor the development of a client or the protocol, I can pay for a provider to host my data so they don't have to find ways of using my data for profit (user is the product situations). In this category I see technologies such as IPFS, DAT, SSB, Matrix, etc.

Blockchain applications are just one of the ways to build such protocols/apps. They simplify things a log. You get some things for "free" (you still pay for gas) such as networking, identity, storage, consensus, payments. In most non-blockchain based decentralized applications it's pretty much impossible to build something from scratch that allows users to have their own username. (Many projects solve this by using centralized services such as DNS, blockchain, or just giving in to federation). Similarly with other consensus issues that blockchain due to its nature solves out of the box. It's really hard to build good decentralized apps having these features, let alone without them.

Add the fact that blockchain and smart contracts are new and interesting technologies, and the amount of money made from ICOs and VCs that such companies are throwing at developers and hopefully you have a vague picture.