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I've heard of Ethereum "distributed apps". Is that different than currency, what is a use case for a distributed app?

• Acrobatic_Road 6y ago
  Generally it's about eliminating counterparty risk. Compare Coinbase (centralized) with Uniswap (decentralized). Coinbase users put their trust in a custodian. That custodian has the ability to steal from them or be stolen from. That's how MtGox went down in flames. Uniswap users don't have to custody their funds with anyone to trade. They can use whichever they want. Coinbase's platform can change on the whims of the company. Users have to accept this if they want to continue using the platform. Uniswap is nothing more than a handful of small contracts which are unalterable and public. If you don't like, fork it. Don't like the official frontend? You can fork that too. Some wallets just build uniswap directly into the app. And since you don't have to sign up to use uniswap, the experience is completely seamless. Now there's a lot more you can do with decentralized applications, but this should help get the point across.
  • ralphc 6y ago
    I'm afraid it doesn't. From my understanding, bitcoin and other currencies are just numbers or strings, correct? There are ways to check them on your computer/device to make sure that they are valid, but that is running code locally. With a distributed app, is the code passed around, or is it executed in a distributed way as well? The "forking the official frontend", is that something you just run on your machines or is it run in a distributed manner somehow?
    • Acrobatic_Road 6y ago
      >With a distributed app, is the code passed around, or is it executed in a distributed way as well? The latter. The contracts are deployed to the blockchain itself. The output of the code is secured by ethereum's consensus rules. >The "forking the official frontend", is that something you just run on your machines or is it run in a distributed manner somehow? The front end is something that runs locally.