THE DIVE

Crypto unchained

Get to know how to talk about blockchains and crypto-assets

Bastien Buchwalter

June 20, 2025

Chapter 1:

Into the wild

To explore the true nature of crypto, one must first ask: what is its origin? And what if the answer is… we don’t actually know?

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Chapter 2:

A new world

Crypto-assets are sketching a new world — painted as a triptych.

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Chapter 3:

Money rules the world

"Digital or not, what drives crypto — like everything else — is still a matter of money."

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Chapter 4:

From Wallets to Smart Contracts

Users have two tools at their disposal to interact on a blockchain: wallets and smart contracts.

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Chapter 5:

The rise of DApps

While we are familiar with the concepts of Apps on our smartphones, only few are aware of the existence of Distributed Applications (Dapps) in the crypto-asset ecosystem.

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Chapter 6:

Heads or tails, Coins & Tokens

There’s a crucial difference between coins and tokens that shape how they function.

Read chapter 6

Chapter 7:

Risks and scams

While the crypto-asset ecosystem presents a plethora of opportunities, the emerging asset class is also prone to scams and risks.

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Chapter 8:

Outlook

As crypto continues to evolve, one big question remains: is crypto here to stay, or will governments shut it down?

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Chapter 9:

Crypto’s Decentralization Dilemma

Born to decentralize the world, Bitcoin lit a spark. But somewhere along the chain, control crept back in.

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Crypto unchained

Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The rise of DApps

Summary
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Chapter 5:

The rise of DApps

While we are familiar with the concepts of Apps on our smartphones, only few are aware of the existence of Distributed Applications (Dapps) in the crypto-asset ecosystem.

The Apps we use daily generally evolve around online banking, messaging and social media. In spirit, DApps are the same as they offer a broad range of services to users. Just like smartphone apps, which operate on running operating systems (Android, iOS), DApps also need an underlying infrastructure to run: a blockchain.

They are attractive for developers as they are relatively easy to launch. Just as it’s much easier for developers to create apps within existing operating systems rather than building an entirely new phone, similarly DApps are easy to launch as they simply leverage an already existing platform via the smart contract technology. And due to this ease, the crypto-asset ecosystem is now hugely dominated by this sub-category of crypto-assets.

In short, DApps:

are built on existing blockchain,

use smart contracts to execute functions,

have a user interface, similarly to apps on our phones.

DApps can offer a wide range of services while ensuring security, transparency, and automation. Users can transact, contract and interact without the need to rely on a centralized third party. The fact that DApps leverage smart contracts located on a blockchain makes them censorship resistant. Nonetheless, governance issues remain.

Native currencies of DApps

DApps are built on existing blockchains and leverage smart contracts to function. To the blockchain, they are the equivalent of what mobile apps are to smartphones. To access the services provided by DApps, users need to buy the native currency of that DApp. This native currency is referred to as a “token”. This is in contrast to the native currency of distributed blockchains, which is referred to as a coin. This distinction introduces a taxonomy of coins and tokens which we will now delve into

Governance of DApps

While distributed blockchains present a neat governance fulfilled by a permissionless network of individual nodes, DApps tend to display a centralized and unregulated form of governance. Even though DApps run on distributed blockchains, they – themselves – do not always benefit from a democratic form of governance. The governance depends on whoever created that smart contract. In other words, DApps are controlled by the smart contracts that powered them, often managed by a small group of developers. As such, many DApps have centralised decision-making over upgrades, fees, and governance.

The majority of scams originate exactly in this part of the crypto-assets ecosystem. Developers can overissue the native currency of their DApp. Users who already own some of the token will see its value reduced with additional supply. In some cases, developers overissue to such a point that token become completely worthless. While the users have lost their investment, the developer made some profit by selling the token. In light of the unregulated nature of the crypto-space, the developer can at any point simply abandon a project without any accountability for the users.

The centralization of DApp platforms

Most apps rely on iOS or Android to function. Similarly, in the crypto world, Ethereum and the Binance blockchain dominate, hosting about 90% of all DApps. In other words, if the underlying blockchain a DApp fails, so does the DApp.

Coins and tokens: what is the difference between the two?

Let’s rewind, to fully understand where DApps fit in, we need to clarify the distinction between coins and tokens, the two fundamental types of crypto-assets.

Chapter 6:

Heads or tails, Coins & Tokens

There’s a crucial difference between coins and tokens that shape how they function.

Read chapter 6