Why dApps haven't taken off yet???Mainstream adoption
dApps have been around for a pretty long time now and it's still Greek and Latin for most of the people out there.
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Updated November 2026. This was first published on 8 August 2020. The idea is the same. Any number below is what the original piece said then. It is not a new count.
Key takeaways
- dApps have been around for a pretty long time now and it’s still Greek and Latin for most of the people out there.
- dApps are decentralized and by decentralized, I mean that there’s no central power governing these applications (or at least that’s what it is supposed to be).
- Amid rising concerns over privacy & security, Dapps are technically an amazing solution but we’re still not there yet.
dApps have been around for a pretty long time now and it’s still Greek and Latin for most of the people out there. dApps are decentralized and by decentralized, I mean that there’s no central power governing these applications (or at least that’s what it is supposed to be). Amid rising concerns over privacy & security, Dapps are technically an amazing solution but we’re still not there yet.
For all those what exactly is a dApp? Let me break it down for you.
A decentralized application as the name suggests runs on multiple user systems rather than on a central server which also avoids downtime and aids the reduction of processing power as each user contributes to run the network.
It is trustless which means that there is no third party involved and your data isn’t controlled by a central private company like Google. This peer-to-peer system is governed by the consensus or a majority of the people and the code base is open to public scrutiny. The power is in the hands of the public! (Maybe try reading the last sentence in a rebellious & dramatic tone).
The consensus agrees and works by a Proof of Work / Proof of Stake system which is a pre-written algorithm to maintain protocol and security.
In fact, Bitcoin was the first dApp as it allowed users to run a node or a part of the blockchain on their individual computers which soon turned into a large interconnected decentralized architecture.
If you want to know more about dApps, check it out here.
Getting back to our primary question, why aren’t dApps mainstream yet?
dApps cannot be shut down, are more resistant to cyber-attacks, have no downtime and yet it hasn’t reached the masses.
AWARENESS #
Let alone ease of use, people do not even know what a dApp is. For such people, it is not an easy task to adapt to these applications and consider them over centralized applications that are have been proven to be beneficial to users despite the security and technical concerns. It’s majorly due to tradition and ease of use. There is a huge population that does not worry about how their data is used until they get the service they want. I cannot yet take the dApps’ side as they are definitely not easy to use and involves a lot of setting up to use it. Why would people care to spend time on a dApp when they can just download a normal application directly off the app store on a single click. The general user must not go through gas, keys, and stuff like that. Yes, apps are slowly coming to mobile phones but they are still not straightforward and will have the do better than centralized applications to get into the limelight.
FEW REAL DAPPS #
Most of the dApps launching these days aren’t really dApps. Even if the project works over a decentralized system, the control is not entirely given to the users. This means that the showrunners still have a considerable amount of influence within the platform which completely destroys the concept of dApps. Due to this very reason, there have been very few legitimate dApps launched.
INTEROPERABILITY #
Interoperability is also an age-old reason for the stagnance of dApps. To put in simple words, consider a Bank that does not allow international transfers or restricts exchanges to a single currency. This will make the user unhappy while also ruining the business of the bank. As of now, it is impossible to send a transaction from the Bitcoin blockchain to the Ethereum blockchain. Such cross-chain compatibility is needed for dApps to widen their user base. This can be achieved by building the dApps on a secondary layer which is interoperable with different blockchains. This is easier said than done as interoperability has been a big obstacle since the inception of Blockchain. As Deloitte said, interoperability is something that has been holding down the widespread adoption of dApps all this while.
SPEED & SCALABILITY #
The speed and scalability problem still persists but is constantly improving and evolving. More than 50 percentage of dApps that exist run on Ethereum and there is a reason why these dApps are going with Ethereum even though it’s not perfect. The transaction speed is currently 15 transactions per second which is shameful when put next to Visa Card’s 1700 transactions per second(The mythical 24k tps count is just based on theory) Ethereum is said to increase its transactions speeds in a big way in Ethereum 2.0 which is due for release. Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum has said that Ethereum 2.0 will eventually do 100,000 transactions per second. Apart from this, players like the Matic Network exist for the sole purpose of scaling dApps and it is doing a good job at it.
DeFi** is growing rapidly and bolstering the mass adoption of dApps. Since it’s inception in 2019, it has been by far the most impactful trend within the blockchain ecosystem. As far as the finance sector is concerned, Blockchain has already grown significantly and it’s only a matter of time that dApps blow up and be used by almost everyone.
As per the 2020 Q2 Dapp Market Report,.
Over $4.9 billion USD (ATH) was transferred through finance dapps, 67% increased since Q1. Total DeFi Volume reached $11.5 Billion.
dApps need to get a lot of things right but the foundation is strong. A new wave of builders are coming in, paving the way for mainstream adoption of dApps. They are going to be essential in day-to-day activities removing the middlemen and reducing costs in our personal and business transactions. Once the code is cracked, it’s going to be largely disruptive with applications having unimaginable use cases entering and taking the market by storm. There’s still a long way to go but we’ll eventually get there. Blockchain and decentralization are the next big things that are going to transform the world and I stand by this no matter what.
Questions and answers #
What is the main point? #
dApps have been around for a pretty long time now and it’s still Greek and Latin for most of the people out there.
What else did the original piece say? #
dApps are decentralized and by decentralized, I mean that there’s no central power governing these applications (or at least that’s what it is supposed to be).