Decentralized applications are designed to look and feel just like regular applications, and ideally, the user should not realize they’re interacting with the underlying blockchain.
But blockchains are what makes dApps different from regular Apps, enabling them to be decentralized, so users have more control and functionality at their fingertips.
dApps provide a new way for users to interact with digital services, games, finance and more, and they have become the foundation of a new kind of internet that’s popularly known as “Web3”. Just as with the original internet, these days there are dApps for everything, be it payments, investing, borrowing money, sharing information, social media and games. So let’s take a look at a few examples that showcase exactly what Web3 is all about.
Transak: The World’s Gateway To Crypto
New users of Web3 need a gateway to crypto, and that’s exactly what Transak provides, integrating its crypto on-ramps into any dApp via a simple API, handling all of the complexities of KYC, compliance and regulations, while also providing numerous options for fiat payments and payouts.
On-ramps are essential for Web3 dApps because it’s believed that the average dApp that doesn’t not have one sees something like an 80% bounce rate on new users. That’s because many of those new users are unfamiliar with crypto, with zero knowledge of how digital wallets work, gas fees and so on. They’re also not familiar with the process of buying crypto through an exchange platform. As such, tell them they need crypto and they simply give up straight away.
With Transak that’s no longer the case. Although people might not be familiar with crypto, they are familiar enough with the concept of buying in-game currency on mobile games and applications, and Transak makes the experience much like this. All the user has to do is specify the amount and type of crypto they want to buy, link a payment method and they’re good to go. It’s fast, simple, effective, efficient and therefore a game-changer for every other dApp.
dYdX: The Best Exchange For Pro DeFi Traders
In the crypto industry, professional trading tools like margin calls, derivatives and options were previously only available on centralized exchange platforms, but dYdX changes that, integrating these pro trading features into a trustless and decentralized environment.
On the face of it, dYdX looks and feels like most other DEX platforms, such as Uniswap or SushiSwap, but a closer look reveals some stark differences. While the latter platforms are designed for simple spot trading, dYdX supports the trading of perpetuals, which are derivatives or financial instruments that derive their value from the underlying asset on which they’re based.
Like with futures and options, derivatives give traders a way to speculate on the future price of the underlying asset, but the difference is there are no expiration dates on its buy and sell options. That’s why its contracts are termed as “perpetual”.
dYdX gives crypto traders access to more sophisticated trading tools and greater leverage of up to 25X on most synthetic assets. What’s more, it’s built on a more efficient platform. Instead of using an automated market maker that struggles with high slippage, it’s based on a more traditional orderbook and matching model that better suits the requirements of institutional traders. With V4’s recent migration to its own chain, dYdX will soon be able to host permissionless markets which should be interesting for DeFi speculators and pro traders.
Flare: The Best Blockchain for Real-World Data
An interoperability protocol that’s focused on interchain communication, Flare provides dApp developers with an easier way to access off-chain data from other blockchains and the wider web. The idea is that developers can harness real-world data to build richer dApp experiences and create new monetization models.
The idea with Flare is that it helps blockchains get over one of their major constraints – namely their inability to talk to the real world. Because blockchains are essentially closed networks, their utility has been limited mainly to financial services, rather than things that happen in the real world, but Flare changes this.
Flare has created two powerful data acquisition protocols, including the Flare Time-Series Oracle, which delivers decentralized, time-series data to dApps built on its network. It currently provides data about digital asset prices to other blockchains and is widely used by DEX’s and lending platforms. It does this by incentivising a network of data providers to be honest and ensure accuracy.
As for the Flare State Connector, this enables real-world data such as sports results to be transmitted to blockchains through an API. Once again, data providers are incentivized to provide this information, with independent attestation providers doing the job of verifying such information.
Nexo: The Best Platform for Lending and Borrowing Crypto
One of the great things about crypto is DeFi, which provides users with a world of financial opportunities that don’t exist when dealing with fiat. For instance, DeFi enables anyone to lend or borrow crypto, and one of the best platforms for doing that is Nexo, which allows users to access fiat cash without selling their crypto assets. To borrow money from Nexo, simply deposit crypto as collateral and you’ll receive a loan in either stablecoins or fiat.
The funds for borrowers come from investors, who are users that deposit crypto into its liquidity pools in a return for earning part of the interest derived from its loan repayments. Its interest rates are among the best in the business.
What’s more, Nexo also acts as a comprehensive trading platform with a range of advanced trading options. It allows users to buy and sell more than 70 digital assets, and they can deposit funds for the first time with no wallet, simply by using a credit card or bank transfer. It supports a number of unique order types for spot trading, including advance, trailing, OCO (one-cancels-the-other), stop loss and take profit orders.
Other options include perpetual futures, similar to dYdX, with leverage of up to 2x, and margin trading that provides up to 5x leverage, meaning traders can trade with five-times the amount of their actual deposit. Oh, and did we mention that Nexo also offers a dual-usage crypto card, which makes it simple to spend cryptocurrency in any physical or online store that accepts Mastercard?
MixMob – The Best Web3 Game of 2024
Launched earlier this year after years in the making, Mixmob was one of the most widely anticipated metaverse games and it is already enjoying great success. It’s based on remix culture, and set in a universe where a mysterious artificial intelligence has deleted the world’s culture to enslave humanity. But a small band of Mixbots, who escaped the enslavement, are now fighting back.
The game offers a thrilling mix of gameplay mechanics, combined with an open economy, stunning artwork, a complex storyline, mutable NFTs that evolve as the player progresses, and a lively community.
Players can engage in various games to compete for cryptocurrency rewards, reinvesting their winnings to make their characters even more powerful. The main focus of the game is Racer 1, a hybrid card/battle/racing strategy game that merges the thrills of Mario Kart with the tactical concepts of Fortnite’s Clash Royale battle mode.
Racing revolves around MixBot Racers, which are NFTs that players can fine-tune and power up to gain a competitive edge against their peers. Another element of the game involves raiding, where players can engage in raids on the surface of the world, attempting to discover valuable rewards without being detected by the all-conquering AI that dominates. There’s also a Remixing element, where players can leverage their creative abilities to merge NFTs and craft unique looks for their avatars and MixBots and develop enhanced abilities.
MixMob was under development for years, launching its first NFT collection back in December 2021 when it sold 5,000 unique Gen0 masks on the Solana blockchain. There are currently around 1,600 unique NFT mask holders.
Later this year, MixMob’s team will add more functionality to the beta of MixMob Racer 1, including player-vs-player and tournament modes, as well as focus groups. It will also expand to include more competitors in ten-player races, with more card complexity, more in-game content and additional decentralized Turbo Arenas. There’s a lot to look forward to, and MixMob should be a top blockchain game for some time to come.
Nimiq: The most widely accepted crypto in the world
If you’re looking to give up fiat and live the crypto lifestyle, you need a dApp like Nimiq, which has built the world’s most extensive crypto payments network. It’s based on a secure, easy-to-use, low cost and fast blockchain protocol that enables seamless value transfer and effortless onboarding for non-crypto natives.
Nimiq claims to be the most widely accepted cryptocurrency and it’s hard to argue with that, for its tokens are accepted in more than 29,200 locations globally, and that number is growing by the day.
Its extensive list of products include the Nimiq Wallet, which is a browser-based dApp that can be accessed from any device, anywhere, so users can transact and manage their funds from any location. SuperSimpleSwap provides a service that makes it possible for users to buy and sell multiple digital assets using their bank account, while Cryptopayment.link is a merchant-focused product that allows any store to accept crypto as a form of payment.
It also offers community projects such as Nimiq Cafe, which provides tools and resources for developers wanting to deploy dApps on the Nimiq blockchain, and a Nimiq Shop, where fans of the dApp can buy branded Nimiq merchandise using crypto. In addition, Nimiq has recently branched out into DeFi, offering staking services with its switch to a proof-of-stake blockchain. It’s possible to stake with as few as just 100 NIM coins.
In terms of outreach, Nimiq is second-to-none, with successful projects including its Nimiq Cities campaign, which aims to promote local businesses in select cities around the world to adopt crypto.
Boxbet: The best crypto betting platform on Telegram
Still flying under the radar, Boxbet is pioneering the concept of iGaming, offering a novel way to bet on various sports, lottery and casino games and take on other humans in player-vs-challenges.
The platform uniquely leverages Telegram wallets, which is an advantage that means it can focus more on its core offerings rather than the crypto management side. Its platform is designed to serve users aged 18 and over in jurisdictions where online betting is legal, and makes use of both centralized and decentralized elements to deliver a smooth and exciting betting experience. It has emerged as one of the most popular iGaming apps on Telegram, which is one of the most popular social media networks for the crypto industry.
Boxbet’s mission is to decentralize the iGaming industry and make it fairer for all players. It holds the distinction of being Telegram’s fastest iGaming bot, and features seamless integration with sports betting markets offered by Azuro, a major name in online gaming. With this integration, users can place bets on all manner of sporting events from directly within their Telegram wallet
Boxbet’s team is currently in the process of obtaining gaming licenses from multiple jurisdictions in the world, and is backed by some of the biggest investors in crypto.