The world is finally waking up to the fact that blockchains are powerful tools on which we can build world-changing applications. It’s also slowly figuring out that many of the known blockchains, such as Ethereum, cannot scale to allow for enterprise-grade solutions to be built using that network.
In this article, we’ll discuss some of the challenges associated with building on the blockchain, we will highlight some tools that make it easier to do so, and we’ll tell you how you can find out more at the upcoming London Blockchain Conference.
What are the challenges linked to building on blockchains?
Identifying Problems – One of the most significant issues associated with building on blockchains is identifying problems to be solved. Unfortunately, thanks to the speculative frenzy in the industry over the past decade, attention has been focused on token prices and speculation driven by dark pools of money on platforms like Binance.
However, as the gold rush mentality dies down, real problems are beginning to get the attention they have been due. Industry leaders, governments, and entrepreneurs are realizing that blockchain technology can solve long-standing issues with supply chains, data integrity, legacy financial systems, and much more.
Scaling – The original Bitcoin protocol could always scale unboundedly, and Satoshi Nakamoto said so himself when he told developer Mike Hearn that it could already surpass Visa-level transaction capacity when he released it. Sadly, this idea has been suppressed and drowned out by vested interests who realized there are a lot of venture capital dollars to be had in building scaling solutions for broken blockchains.
Thanks to solutions like Teranode, the original Bitcoin is scaling to the levels Satoshi envisioned, with tens of millions of on-chain transactions being processed daily.
Integration with Legacy Systems – While blockchain technology has been around for well over a decade now, and its precursors much longer than that, it is still a relatively new technology, and there will be definite challenges integrating it with the legacy systems many enterprises and governments run on.
For example, the British NHS computer system is notoriously outdated, and projects attempting to fix it regularly run into brick walls. Integrating a system like this with blockchain technology would have many benefits, but there’s no doubt it would pose significant challenges, too.
Usability and User Experience – To its credit, Ethereum was the first blockchain that made it relatively simple and easy for developers to build on it. Its simple Solidity language and well-organized documentation made it easy for even new developers to start.
Unfortunately, Ethereum can’t scale, so all the world-class tools in the world will not help. Blockchains like Bitcoin SV are fast catching up with some excellent documentation and the tools we’ll discuss next, making life easier for would-be and existing developers.
What are some useful tools for building on Bitcoin SV?
There’s an ever-growing list of useful tools to make it easier to build on the world’s most scalable utility blockchain. From token protocols to transpilers and Turing complete smart contracting languages to teams of people who will outright bring an idea to life for you, things are finally becoming easier for BSV devs.
LiteClient/ SPV – Satoshi Nakamoto described Simple Payment Verification (SPV) in the Bitcoin white paper. In it, he explains how a light client could verify transactions without downloading the entire Bitcoin blockchain.
It is possible to verify payments without running a full network node. A user only needs to keep a copy of the block headers of the longest proof-of-work chain, which he can get by querying network nodes until he’s convinced he has the longest chain, and obtain the Merkle branch linking the transaction to the block it’s time stamped in. He can’t check the transaction for himself, but by linking it to a place in the chain, he can see that a network node has accepted it, and blocks added after it further confirm the network has accepted it. (Nakamoto, 2008, p. 5)
Thanks to the hard work of developers at the BSV Blockchain Association and others, LiteClient is now a reality. In short, it requests the Merkle branch of a given transaction from a BSV full node and verifies that the transaction is included in a block. This allows SPV clients to operate with far fewer computational and storage resources than full node operators require.
Indexing services like Jungle Bus serve a similar purpose, allowing applications to filter the transactions they need without running a full node.
sCrypt – Bitcoin SV supports Bitcoin Script natively. It’s mostly used to specify conditions that must be fulfilled to spend Bitcoins, but some developers have complained that it’s limited and challenging to use.
Thankfully, BSV developers can now use sCrypt, a user-friendly, high-level smart contract language. It’s fully Turing complete, extremely user-friendly, and has a similar Syntax to Javascript and Solidity, making it easier to develop on BSV.
As well as sCrypt, there are now several SDKs for developers who use Python, Javascript, C++, and other languages, enabling them to interact with the BSV blockchain more easily.
Magic Dapp – VX Technologies recently announced the first ‘no code’ tool for developers on the BSV blockchain; Magic Dapp. This drag-and-drop style tool makes it extremely easy and straightforward to create applications, custom databases, and other tools on BSV, even for those who can’t code.
This has revolutionary implications, making the power of the blockchain accessible to anyone, anywhere. For more complex projects, VX Technologies offers Alpha Dapp, which is essentially a ‘done for you’ service in which its team of experts can help bring any project to life.
This is just a small overview of some tools available for building on the most powerful blockchain. Many others, including a suite of tools from Gate2chain, Vaionex Corporation, TAAL, and others, make it easy to tokenize assets on the blockchain, track, and process transactions, and build custom applications.
Learn More at the London Blockchain Conference
If you’re interested to learn more about visionary developers and entrepreneurs who are building on the blockchain, you need to be at the London Blockchain Conference from May 31 to June 2. It’s taking place in the QEII Centre in the heart of the city, and it’s truly shaping up to be an unmissable event.
As well as panels hosted by actor Ben McKenzie and a demonstration of how a gold exchange should work by the legendary financial commentator and investor Peter Schiff, the London Blockchain Conference will be packed with entrepreneurs and builders who will show, explain, and demonstrate how building on the blockchain is happening now.
If you want to reserve your free ticket to the world’s biggest blockchain conference to mix and mingle with the leading minds in the industry, visit the London Blockchain Conference website today!
Watch: London Blockchain Conference VIP dinner: Showcasing real-world solution powered by blockchain
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