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A Comparison of Blockchain Development Platforms. Which Is The Right One For Your Use Case?
With the rising need of blockchain, everybody has begun to go through the potential of the technology. Originally, blockchain caused disruption from the financial sector, but today its applications are researched across various industries such as software and app development.
First it’s important to understand what’s in store for 2021 and beyond:
Ease-of-use efforts will be front and center
Low dApp (decentralized application) usage, poor network interoperability, and sustained volatility are still obstacles to mass adoption of crypto tools. Impact: Projects such as Polkadot, Bison Trails, and Anchorage are tackling different aspects of the ease-of-use dilemma that has continued to plague the blockchain space.
Considering that companies have begun to explore the ability of blockchain by constructing blockchain software, the demand for blockchain development platforms is off the charts. The increase of dApp growth is yet an additional reason that the amount of blockchain platforms is rising day by day.
Service providers will diversify
The explosion of Blockchain service providers, especially exchanges and custodians, means companies will look to compete by adding high-margin, value-added services.
Impact: In addition to insurance (slide 28), expect custodians to add additional products such as lending. BitGo, for example, announced in March ‘20 the launch of an institutional lending service.
Government involvement will grow
Governments’ willingness to launch a state-owned native digital currency will continue growing. So too will their ability to monitor and regulate non-fiat crypto-networks.
Impact: Confidentiality will become a harder feature to guarantee on blockchain platforms. And, if CBDCs do launch, expect regulation to discourage consumers from embracing non-fiat stablecoins.
Taking these trends into account, let's start with the basics and go from there.
What's a blockchain platform?
Blockchain platforms permit the development of blockchain-based software. They could be permissioned or even permissionless. Ethereum, Hyperledger, R3, Ripple, and EOS are a couple of names that have assembled blockchain frameworks, enabling individuals to develop and host software on the blockchain.
Let's first talk about the aspects which could help you pick the best blockchain platform for your organization.
The best way to Pick a Blockchain Platform for Your Company?
We've chosen the blockchain platforms on the list based on the subjective evaluation of the ease of prototyping. We've completed an in-depth evaluation of these platforms mentioned based on these variables:
What's the development status of a platform?
Assessing how active the development of a platform is in GitHub or other associated communities. Knowing if the system's code was tested multiple times or if the platform remains in the development phase.
What Languages does the platform support?
Blockchain remains in its nascent platform and lots of new programming languages are being introduced. Before choosing a blockchain framework, understand what programming languages are encouraged by the SDKs of said platforms.
How hot is your Platform?
Examine the buz and rep of a blockchain platform on sites like GitHub or Reddit.
What Blockchain Consensus Protocol does the platform utilize to attain consensus?
It's hard to operate on a blockchain platform if you don't know its consensus protocol. As there are various sorts of consensus algorithms like Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, Proof of Burn, and a lot more, it's vital to understand what blockchain platform supports exactly what consensus protocol.
Can the platform support Smart Contracts Functionality?
Not many blockchain platforms support the notion of smart contracts that are responsible for validating, triggering or enforcing activities on the blockchain systems.
What type of scalability do you need?
Since the number of trades and participants grow, a blockchain system ought to have the ability to scale to accommodate to the expansion. In the event your project isn't transaction-intensive and just requires periodic data inspection like escrow arrangement, you need to confine network choices into quality, ease of usage, accessibility, and price.
On the flip side, if your job is transaction-intensive, make sure to determine side-chain consequences for security and evaluate system transaction fees.
Research done by IBM, out of 3,000 global C-level executives, 33 percent of organizations are considering engaging in blockchain technology.
We've examined the various blockchain platforms employed by leading blockchain firms and have produced a listi of widely-used platforms for blockchain-based software.
If you're new to this technology, this guide can help you decide on the ideal blockchain platform for your own project.
1. Stellar
2. Tezos
3. Hyperledger Fabric
4. Hyperledger Sawtooth
5. Hedera Hashgraph
6. Ripple
7. Quorum
8. Hyperledger Iroha
9. Corda
10. EOS
11. OpenChain
12. Ethereum
13. Dragonchain
14. NEO
Stellar
Stellar is a distributed blockchain based ledger employed for easing cross-asset transfers of value. Very similar to Ripple, it may also cope with exchanges involving cryptocurrencies and fiat-based currency. It's possible to construct banking programs, smart devices, and mobile wallets employing the Stellar network.
Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) makes it feasible to achieve consensus without relying on a closed platform for recording financial transactions. Using a pair of provable security attributes, SCP optimizes for security over liveness by stopping the development of the system until a consensus could be reached in the event of misbehaving nodes or partition.
As compared with the decentralized proof-of-work and proof-of-stake algorithms, SCP has small computing and financial demands, reducing the barrier to entrance and opening up a financial platform to new participants.
SureRemit requires Stellar blockchain for linking immigrants overseas with the retailers providing the services needed by their own nearest and dearest in another nation. A number of different businesses like Transport To, NaoBTC, RippleFox, and ICICI Bank are incorporating Stellar system to allow money transfers across boundaries.
Industry Focus: Financial Services
Consensus Algorithm: Stellar Consensus Protocol
Governance: Stellar Development Foundation
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Both public and private
Tezos
Co-founders of Tezos Platform, Kathleen Breitman and Arthur Breitman, have been building Tezos since 2014 using a core group of programmers. Breitman ran an ICO in 2016 and received $612,000 in 6 months.
Tezos is a decentralized blockchain system that's self-governing and establishes an authentic digital commonwealth. It's a platform connected to an electronic token, known as a Tezzie or even Tez. However, the platform isn't dependent on the mining of Tez. Instead, token holders receive a reward for engaging in the proof-of-stake consensus mechanics.
Tezos is a smart contract and dApp platform like Ethereum, Neo, Waves, and QTUM, but its own self-amending cryptographic mechanism makes it distinctive from other platforms.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Delegated Proof of Stake
Governance: Dynamic Ledger Solutions
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissionless
Hyperledger Fabric
Hyperledger Fabric is another project from Hyperledger, meant for creating blockchain-based solutions or applications with a modular structure. The modularity of the design enables network designers to plug into their favorite elements like membership providers and consensus, differentiating it from other blockchain options.
Hyperledger Fabric is made for permissioned networks, allowing known identities to engage within a method. The participants in this system ought to be licensed and ought to have credibility to get involved in the blockchain.
Digital Asset and IBM originally contributed to the Hyperledger Fabric platform as a Consequence of the initial hackathon. Blockchain firms prefer constructing enterprise-grade software employing this blockchain platform.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Pluggable Framework
Governance: Linux Foundation
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
Hyperledger Sawtooth
Launched by the Linux Foundation and led by IBM and Digital Asset, Hyperledger Sawtooth is an enterprise-grade and modular system, designed for generating, deploying, and implementing distributed ledgers that empower digital documents to be preserved with no central authority.
Sawtooth's PoET (Proof of Elapsed Time) consensus mechanism empowers Hyperledger Sawtooth to incorporate with hardware security options, called "trusted execution environments." Intel's recently launched Xeon chip is among its applications.
It's Hyperledger's second open-source blockchain system to incorporate an enterprise-ready 1.0 variant. The launching of 1.0 software alternatives is vital for each and every developer as it signals that the maintainers remain devoted to the core attributes. Thus, it supplies blockchain companies a feeling of assurance that whatever they construct, will not break due to future updates.
Hyperledger has announced the launch of Sawtooth version 1.1. Before, they published Sawtooth 1.0 that indicated the production-ready condition of the platform. However, in the new launch, they've introduced support for WebAssembly intelligent contracts along with a better consensus port.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Pluggable Framework
Governance: Linux Foundation
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
Hedera Hashgraph
Supplying a new kind of distributed consensus, Hedera Hashgraph system is lightning-secure, fast, and equitable platform that doesn't have to calculate a heavy proof of work algorithm.
Hedera enables programmers to construct a totally new type of decentralized applications that are scalable.
The Hedera Hashgraph Council is the governing body of this Hedera Hashgraph system as well as the conditions created in Hedera's governance guarantee no single member may get control and no tiny groups can have an intense effect over the whole body.
Smart contracts from the Hedera Hashgraph platform could be made dynamic just as with any other software component. As it delivers an optional mechanism that allows"binding arbitration", the smart contracts deployed with a listing of the public keys of arbitrators and could be edited to repair bugs or add new capabilities.
When a designated arbitrator agrees about the change of a smart contract, the trade using a brand new bytecode is accepted by the arbitrator's keys and the change is executed.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance
Governance: Hedera Hashgraph Council
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
Ripple
Launched in 2012, Ripple is targeted at linking payment providers, electronic asset traders, banks, and companies through a blockchain system, RippleNet, with no chargebacks. It permits international payments via an electronic asset referred to as"XRP or Ripple," which is presently a popular cryptocurrency such as Ether and Bitcoin.
Built on innovative blockchain technologies, XRP is significantly more scalable and faster than other blockchains. Ripple utilizes probabilistic voting to attain the consensus between nodes.
Presently, it has over a hundred clients and about 75 customers in various phases of commercial setup mostly over three use cases, i.e., decreasing liquidity prices (xRapid), sending payments across multiple networks (xVia), along with cross-border payments (xCurrent).
Big brands such as Santander, American Express, MoneyGram International, SBI Holdings, and Deloitte are analyzing the capacity of both Ripple's Blockchain and plan to incorporate it to make current payment procedures more secure and quicker.
Industry Focus: Financial Services
Consensus Algorithm: Probabilistic Voting
Governance: Ripple Labs
Smart Contract Functionality: No
Ledger Type: Permissioned
Quorum
Created by J.P Morgan, Quorum is an enterprise focused version of Ethereum. Quorum changes Ethereum's core and so, can integrate the Ethereum updates effortlessly and quickly.
Very similar to Ethereum, Quorum can be accessible and free to utilize in perpetuity. Contrary to other blockchain platforms, it utilizes vote-based and distinct calculations to process hundreds of transactions per second. Made to be permissioned, the networks utilizing Quorum will not be available to everybody. It can manage applications requiring high throughput processing and a high rate of personal transactions.
Quorum simplifies the dilemma of the confidentiality of documents that Ethereum along with other blockchains neglected to manage by introducing public and private on-chain transactions.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Majority Voting
Governance: Ethereum Developers and JP Morgan Chase
Smart Contract Functionality: No
Ledger Type: Permissioned
Hyperledger Iroha
Hosted by the Linux Foundation, Hyperledger Iroha is a blockchain platform for building reliable, secure, and quick decentralized software.
It's a simple and modularized distributed ledger system based on an extremely secure and speedy consensus algorithm known as Yet Another Consensus, protecting Iroha networks from adversary failures or faulty nodes. It’s mobile and supports macOS and Linux environments, the platform is extremely applicable for distribution-chains and IoT use cases.
Why consider selecting Hyperledger Blockchain?:
Modular Architecture
Programmers are invited to construct components that could benefit from the plug-and-play nature of Hyperledger.
Transparent Procedures
Though the transactions on Fabric may be obfuscated, the development process isn't. In reality, the core teams supporting Hyperledger have worked tirelessly to build it with a healthy balance between transparency in the development process and attaining significant milestones.
Smart Contracts
Hyperledger additionally utilizes chain code smart contracts like Ethereum does.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Chain-based Byzantine Fault Tolerant
Governance: Linux Foundation
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
Corda
R3 is a consortium of some of the world's major financial institutions that assembled to build Corda in 2015. Corda is a cutting-edge blockchain platform, which allows associations to transact directly with smart contracts by eliminating costly frictions in business transactions.
Corda doesn't own a cryptocurrency or built-in token and can be a permissioned blockchain platform that only allows the licensed participants to receive information, not the whole network. As it functions in a permissioned manner, it enriches privacy and provides fine-grained access control to electronic records.
Designed originally by the financial sector, for the fiscal industry, Corda is currently being implemented in several different use cases like health care, trade finance, supply chain, and government.
Over 60 companies, including Intel and Microsoft, are using Corda as a blockchain platform. HSBC, Intel, Bank of America Merill Lynch, and dozens of different organizations have spent around $107 million on R3 Corda.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Asynchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerance
Governance: Hedera Hashgraph Council
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
EOS
Launched as open-source applications in June 2018, EOS is a blockchain platform created by a private firm, Block.one. It's created for the evolution of dApps (Decentralized software). Block. one distributed one billion ERC-20 tokens to ensure widespread distribution of the cryptocurrency and to allow anybody to utilize EOS blockchain once it had been released.
The objective of the system is to provide decentralized software hosting, decentralized storage of business solutions, and smart deal capacity, solving the scalability problems of Ethereum and Bitcoin. In addition, it removes the fees for many customers, i.e., nobody needs to pay to avail the benefits of a dApp built on EOS.
EOS accomplishes consensus using multi-threading in addition to a delegated proof-of-stake algorithm. They have their very own community forum called EOS Forum, allowing investors and developers to talk about the platform.
Reasons to select EOS blockchain for app development:
Free to utilize
The end-user doesn't have to pay via micropayments to execute a variety of tasks or send messages around the EOS platform.
Characteristics
The EOS platform provides producers with a governance system that is utilized to vote and confirm transactions, edits made to the source code of the platform, and verify if an application is behaving properly.
Authenticity
The platform provides a fully-featured authentication system to consumers where every account will be provided a different permission level to store information in a safe method.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Delegated Proof of Stake
Governance: EOSIO Core Arbitration Forum (ECAF)
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
OpenChain
OpenChain was created by Coinprism, the firm behind the colored coins standard Open Assets.
OpenChain is an open-source distributed ledger technology, exceptionally suited to organizations keen to handle digital assets in a safe and scalable way. Contrary to the consensus mechanism employed in Bitcoin, it utilizes Partionned Consensus in which one instance will just have a single jurisdiction for validation of trades.
As there are absolutely no miners in OpenChain, the trades have no costs and could be confirmed by the asset administrator, which makes it more efficient compared to other platforms.
Industry Focus: Digital Asset Management
Consensus Algorithm: Partitioned Consensus
Governance: Linux Foundation
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
Ethereum
Launched in late 2013, Ethereum is an open-source and blockchain-based distributed computing system created by Vitalk Buterin, a 22-year older Russian-Canadian programmer. Ethereum is known for managing smart contracts on a custom-built blockchain. Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) supplies the run-time environment for smart contracts in Ethereum. Each node inside the system must run an EVM implementation.
Though organizations have embraced Ethereum broadly, it's crucial to comprehend that Ethereum is a public (permissionless) blockchain platform, constructed for limited accessibility and not mass intake. What's more, it's a PoW (Proof of Work) based system, which is relatively slower in terms of pure transactional speed. But it may change its own consensus algorithm to Proof of Stake in the next several years.
A programmer who builds applications using Ethereum must cover fees in Ethers, for executing trades and running programs around the Ethereum network.
Ethereum has also assembled a large online service community to keep everybody up-to-date with product improvements and upgrades.
The Ethereum Enterprise Alliance (EEA) is a nonprofit firm with over 250 associates, including Fortune 500 businesses, professors, start-ups, and blockchain businesses with Ethereum subject matter specialists. Members of the EEA include Microsoft, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Intel, all of which are embracing the use of the Ethereum platform.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Proof of Work
Governance: Ethereum Developers
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissionless
Dragonchain
Dragonchain's Blockchain as a Service Platform is intended to provide developers and ventures the helpful resources necessary to create blockchain software in minutes.
Originally developed at the Walt Disney Company in 2014 and open-sourced afterwards in 2016, the Dragonchain platform was created for enterprises. It is a public/private hybrid vehicle blockchain platform that features simplicity of use and higher functionality to develop and deploy blockchain programs and microservice-based smart contracts.
Their blockchain as a service provides flexibility to companies by letting them use Interchain which offers the capacities of different blockchains. Using their cloud-based version for Blockchain as a Service, the demand for patch execution, upgrades, and server installation is removed.
Additionally, the platform may support any programming language, such as Python, Node.js, Java, C#, and Go. With five degrees of consensus, Dragonchain provides a vast range of trust and permits users to utilize multiple evidence protocols.
Industry Focus: Cross-Industry
Consensus Algorithm: Context-Based Verification with five levels of consensus
Governance: Dragonchain Foundation
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Public, Private and Hybrid
NEO
Neo was built by the exact same duo who created blockchain R&D firm"OnChain" in Shangai, Da Hongfei (CEO) and Erik Zhang (CTO).
Designed to create scalable decentralized software, the foundational advantage of the NEO blockchain is NEO token. The role of NEO token is to create GAS tokens that may be used to cover transaction fees to operate programs throughout the community.
Neo utilizes Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance because of its own consensus algorithm. The founders of Neo chose this protocol as it enables better scaling and performance compared to other consensus mechanics.
The three elements that form Neo Smart Economy are:
Digital Assets
Employing blockchain, resource digitization could be trustful, transparent, traceable, free of intermediaries as well as decentralized. Users may enroll, trade, and move unique kinds of electronic assets on the Neo platform.
Digital Identity
Identity data that remains digital data is known as electronic identity. Neo uses a set of X.509 compatible digital identity standards to support the web of trust point-to-point certificate issuance model.
Smart Contract
Utilizing Neo SmartContract system, programmers don't need to learn a new programming language. Instead, they could utilize Java, C# or alternative languages to come up with smart contracts.
Industry Focus: Smart Economy
Consensus Algorithm: Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance
Governance: On-chain governance through votes of NEO holders and Off-chain governance through NEO Foundation support.
Smart Contract Functionality: Yes
Ledger Type: Permissioned
Conclusion
Considering that blockchain is moving at a frenetic rate of innovation, new programs have begun to emerge with added features and new releases. Without a doubt, there are lots of blockchain platforms accessible across the planet, enterprises will need to comprehend the correct platforms to build highly scalable software.
Today we've discussed the platforms utilized by top organizations such as IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and many more.
At Ultrix Labs, we've got an innovative group of blockchain programmers that have a profound comprehension of blockchain concepts and comprehend web application development utilizing a wide range of blockchain platforms.
Contact us to identify the appropriate blockchain platform for your use case.
