A decentralized app store could lead crypto to more centralization

Apple’s estimated 2020 revenue from the App Store is $ 67 billion. That is an increase of $ 50 billion in 2019, an increase of 28%. Even though the company has cut commissions for smaller developers, the App Store remains an important part of Apple’s bottom line. And not only Apple is cutting developer income: the Google Play Store grossed 38.6 billion US dollars on Android, the world’s most popular mobile operating system.

That’s over $ 105 billion in revenue from the two leading app stores combined. Unsurprisingly, regulators in many countries are scrutinizing whether there is enough competition in the market. So it’s no wonder that Coinbase, the best-known and most obvious US crypto exchange, also wants to be the foundation for the decentralized app economy.

But what do we sacrifice when we replace one gatekeeper with another? Does it endanger the decentralized ethos and the accessibility of everything that is sacred to many crypto-believers? These are important questions worth discussing as we build on our momentum and move further into the mainstream.

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The 80/20 rule

Vilfredo Pareto was right with his 80/20 rule: 80% of sales come from 20% of customers. In the case of Apple’s App Store, however, the 95/2 rule applies: 95% of sales come from the top 2% of apps.

For example, suppose a decentralized app store (DApp) reflects a similar reality, where the most successful apps generate the most revenue. This means that any DApp store that manages to back up the most popular apps has a huge advantage. The best sponsored platforms will spend a lot of money to achieve exclusivity and secure caretaker status. After that, everyone who wants to access the top apps has to go through this gatekeeper.

The exclusivity elements of every app store make the economy so lucrative. When you own the rails, the winnings are yours – it’s that simple.

But the 80/20 rule shouldn’t extend to the Web 3.0 economy. Instead of a lot of profit for a few, it is a big win for many others as users are involved in the governance, growth, maintenance, and day-to-day operation of their preferred ecosystem. The ownership aspects of the Web 3.0 economy distribute rewards more evenly to participants in the ecosystem based on their contributions. It’s a more balanced dynamic that suggests a new way of doing business.

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Development of a DApp Web 3.0 store

What is required to ensure a really decentralized distribution for a DApp? We need a DApp store that meets several criteria:

• Governance – Initially, a DApp store is operated by the community. A decentralized autonomous organization that can vote on all governance issues such as commissions, security, etc. will be required.
• Ownership – Profits are distributed to the community according to their governance structure. An organization-specific fund is also required to manage application review, system security, and community maintenance.
• Tokenomics – There is an opportunity to do some very interesting things to motivate developers to use the platform exclusively and perform other important tasks like supporting the deployment infrastructure and essential other weak technologies.
• Interoperability – Users can move freely between different DApp stores and bring their apps (and data) with them. There cannot be a single DApp store that rules them all.

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Applications are at the heart of the digital economy, and that will continue on the way to Web 3.0. The proliferation of decentralized finances, unusable tokens, and other emerging digital assets requires mobile hotspots to bridge the gap between those with laptops and those with laptops that only access the internet through mobile devices.

We are in the transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0. While the gatekeepers remain in a strong position, they will continue to track user growth along with decentralized logs in search of entry points for new users.

If we actually move to Web 3.0, we will likely see DApps serve smaller niches than they do today. We will see a dynamic DApp ecosystem that is more focused and developed by small groups.

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We will also see applications that are broken down into components. For example, a decentralized exchange would be structured in several layers: a user-oriented front-end, an aggregated back-end and a liquidity provider as infrastructure. It is similar to the development from “monolithic to microservices” in the area of ​​software cloud infrastructure.

There is no real decentralization in the application, we just replace one caretaker with another. The key to this will be the community’s commitment to supporting a wide range of app store portals.

What is at stake?

The risk is that in our inevitable journey, convenience and ease of use outweigh decentralization. In fact, this is why centralized gatekeepers often appear: They make things easier and therefore more accessible to the public.

As the crypto community works together to build a thriving digital asset economy that will benefit the majority, we must all keep these tradeoffs in mind. It is imperative that we make digital assets understandable and accessible and reject any argument that concentrating power in the hands of a few is a worthwhile compromise along the way.

We can – and should – push back to protect what makes our shared vision so strong: a future that is accessible to all.