A Guide to 4 Blockchains for Dapp Development

Although Ethereum remains the leading blockchain platform, more ecosystems are sprouting up. In this post, we’ll discuss four blockchains that can be encoded in your Dapp and thus facilitate your entire development process. Meet four open-source blockchain platforms: genEOS, Omni, Ardor, and Waves.

Target Audience

genEOS. Although it can be used for different goals, genEOS focuses on enterprise solutions above all.

Omni. Omni aims at helping developers to create new digital assets and cryptocurrencies.

Ardor. Even though it targets enterprise-grade needs, Ardor can be used for a variety of goals.

Waves. Different types of teams can utilize Waves, although it is mainly fit for digital assets, cryptos, and enterprise tokens.

Consensus Algorithm

genEOS. The platform is subject to the Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm. The system chooses a limited number of the most reliable nodes that are responsible for data validation.

Omni. Being Bitcoin-led, it utilizes the same consensus algorithm as Bitcoin does, Proof of Work (PoW). In this case, all the nodes of the chain take part in new block validation. No need to say, this approach is very energy-consuming.

Ardor. Using the Proof of Stake (PoS) approach, Ardor chooses the witness nodes in a deterministic way based on their accumulated wealth.

Waves. Waves is subject to the PoS consensus algorithm, too. Like Ardor, it carries out transactions in a time- and a cost-efficient way.

Scalability

genEOS. With the help of its DPoS approach, transaction costs of genEOS don’t grow as the blockchain is scaling. Also, as the number of witness nodes is limited, this ecosystem can carry out hundreds of near-simultaneous transactions. Even if this bandwidth isn’t enough, genEOS allows building side chains that can be later merged in one blockchain. This enables nearly unlimited scalability with fixed costs.

Omni. The PoW consensus algorithm used by Omni is hardly scalable. When the blockchain grows, the time required for the accomplishment of one transaction increases. As a result, associated costs soar as well.

Ardor. Officially, Ardor can execute 160-170 transactions per second, however, in reality, this number is almost twice as less. However, just like genEOS, Ardor allows inter-blockchain communication that makes it highly scalable, with limited associated costs.

Waves. With the help of the Waves-NG protocol, this blockchain can complete 190 transactions per second. Waves addresses the scalability problem by implementing ‘liquid blocks’ — flexible nodes that store data until the next fixed block appears.

Pre-designed Toolkit

genEOS. Apart from the bare blockchain, genEOS delivers such features as inherent decentralization, digital ledgers, permissions, payment protocols, and smart contracts.

Omni. Focusing on developers of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, the platform offers smart contracts and a secure web wallet that can be easily encoded in a new solution.

Ardor. The platform delivers smart contracts, account control, account properties, an asset exchange, aliases, a data cloud, a digital goods store, messaging, a monetary system, shuffling, phasing, and a voting system.

Waves. Apart from the standard blockchain features and smart contracts, Waves pre-built a decentralized exchange (DEX), a web wallet, and a tool for generating tokens.

Community and Support

genEOS. The platform’s support is provided by its own workforce that can not only provide assistance to ecosystem participants but develop a ready-to-use Dapp for them from scratch, too.

Omni. The ecosystem provides neither development assistance nor community.

Ardor. Although Ardor’s team doesn’t develop Dapps from zero, it can help with designing and installing out-of-the-box features.

Waves. Waves’ well-developed community is ready to provide assistance if needed. However, the platform by itself doesn’t help teams with their issues, if any.

Wrapping-up: Which Platform Suits Your Needs?

To make the right choice, let’s sum up the merits of each platform once again.

Developed for enterprise-level goals, genEOS is cost-efficient and easily scalable, with a possibility to increase its bandwidth considerably. Its ready-made toolkit addresses the challenges typically faced by large companies such as in logistics and manufacturing. In addition, its development team can help genEOS ecosystem participants with designing their Dapps.

Omni is Bitcoin-backed, with all the consequences that entails. On the one hand, it is difficult to scale. On the other hand, it delivers pre-built fintech tools that can be easily encoded by developers of digital assets and cryptocurrencies.

Focusing on enterprises, Ardor delivers a scalable and cost-efficient blockchain with a rich toolkit. Moreover, it can help teams with the development and installation of separate pre-designed features on demand.

Waves is one of the fastest blockchain ecosystems, but it has a scarce out-of-the-box toolkit. On a bright side, it has a well-developed community that may provide its assistance for teams requiring help.