It's no secret that building large-scale, fully decentralized applications is a challenge, but it turns out the hurdles have to do with more than just scaling.
Decentralized application or "dapp" developers frequently hit roadblocks, since ethereum – the go-to platform so far in dapps' short history – can process only around 25 transactions per second, and the more transactions the network is asked to handle, the more each one costs the user. These limitations on transaction throughput are commonly referred to as "scaling" limitations, and everyone from the casual dapp user to ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin is keenly aware of them.
So when a particular dapp turns out to be less-than-totally decentralized, with parts of the software running on centralized servers, say, the solution seems obvious.
Speed up transaction throughput and reduce costs, and pure, blissful decentralization will naturally follow.
Turns out, though, things aren't that simple.
Some of the most popular dapps that currently live on ethereum – which right now fall into two categories, games and exchanges – often retain centralized features, but the reasons have little to do with throughput and instead, revolve around user experience.
Take games – for developers to be able to make updates to a blockchain-based game, they typically put backdoors into the smart contracts.
Otherwise, said James Duffy, a co-founder of Loom Network, which develops ethereum-based dapps including a Q&A site called DelegateCall, developers would only be able to deploy their dapp once and never be able to modify it.
"Obviously if you're a player in the game you want the developers to be able to update it. You want them to be able to fix bugs, add new levels, add new features," Duffy said.
On the other hand, decentralized exchanges (DEX) keep some centralization in their processes as it relates to their order books. The reasons for this approach have to do partly with security and partly with the difficulty of assembling a single, reliable order book across a large, distributed network of computers.
And while most of these dapp projects aim to decentralize further in the future, for now, they're happy to work slowly through that process so that users have the best experience and don't lose money.
Duffy told CoinDesk:
"No one's ever built a complicated app and then launched it and it just worked perfectly on day one."
See more:
https://www.coindesk.com/decentralizing-popular-dapps-isnt-just-scaling-problem/
