This article was originally published on Smart Content and appears here with permission.
Decentralized applications (dApps) are a new type of digital application built on blockchains. Unlike most Apps today, which consist of closed-source code running on centralized servers, dApps are open-source software running on decentralized networks. Decentralization is desirable because it removes any single point of control or failure in the dApp’s execution, generating strong determinism — the dApp will run exactly as originally coded without counterparty tampering, network downtime, or administrative censorship. Determinism is critical to multi-party process automation, especially when billions to trillions of dollars exchange hands without human intervention.
