Top 6 Smart Contract Platforms in 2022

With the introduction of smart contracts, blockchain technology has gained even greater popularity. The demand for blockchain technology has risen, and it has had a significant impact on cryptocurrencies that support smart contracts. Let's first clarify what a "smart contract" is.

 

What is a Smart Contract?

 

A self-executing computer software known as a "smart contract" stores the conditions of a contract on the blockchain. The program runs automatically when the contract's inherent criteria are satisfied, effectively doing away with middlemen. Furthermore, smart contracts greatly boost transaction speed while significantly reducing transaction costs.

 

Platforms for smart contracts enable, examine, and carry out smart contracts. They give us access to the best smart contract blockchain framework, offer services for developing and testing smart contracts, and host the deployment and execution of smart contracts. 

 

Organizations have been investigating smart contract applications and their potential for developing D-apps(decentralized applications) since this technology was introduced. From blockchain for charities to trade finance to insurance to construction, smart contracts can expedite processes in numerous businesses that rely on contractual relationships.

 

It is more feasible to leverage already-existing blockchain platforms that support smart contracts, even though businesses frequently prefer to experiment with new technology in pilot projects that are started from scratch. The costs levied by the providers of these platforms depend on how much electricity is needed to execute the deployed smart contracts.

 

Also Read | A gentle introduction to Smart Contracts

 

 

What distinguishing features do Smart Contract Platforms have?

 

Although the majority of platforms would be open source, it is important to ascertain whether enough professionals are willing to create. Most importantly, they will need dedicated developers to maintain the system, uncover bugs frequently, and simply begin developing the platform. The leading blockchain technology for smart contracts is still in its infancy and has a long way to go.

 

On the other side, a solid smart contract platform should be easy to use and not require any specialized technical knowledge. This is widely regarded as the biggest barrier to widespread adoption. Therefore, a project must continue to concentrate on creating a user-friendly service if it hopes to appeal to a broad range of users.

 

1. Ethereum:

 

The first smart contract platform in the world was Ethereum, which is still the most widely used by programmers today. Since going live in 2015, the platform has made it possible to deploy apps ranging from ICOs to smart-contract-based insurance. 

 

Since its 2015 launch, Ethereum has ruled the field of smart contracts. Despite numerous attempts to become "Ethereum killers," Vitalik Buterin's invention has not been surpassed. Even the notorious NEO ecosystem, then known as Antshares, missed the opportunity to establish itself as a leading hub for smart contracts during the previous bull run.

 

Ethereum is a Proof of Work blockchain network that is currently home to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), a purportedly Turing-complete system. It is well known for being regarded as the world's computer due to its capacity to mimic a virtually ideal machine. 

 

Using Solidity, an object-oriented programming language for authoring smart contracts, developers build applications for the EMV. Today, Ethereum is a hub for both Defi projects and apps, much like it was for ICOs during the previous bull run. There are now more ecosystems competing for a piece of the Defi pie, but none of them have had a significant negative impact on Ethereum's standing.

 

           Also Read | What is Proof of Stake in Cryptocurrency?

 

2. Hyperledger Fabric:

 

Smart contracts can be executed using the distributed ledger technology known as Hyperledger Fabric. In contrast to Ethereum, which employs virtual machines (VMs) to run smart contracts (i.e., EVM), a Docker container is used to run the code in Hyperledger Fabric smart contracts. Containers, as opposed to VMs, can support smart contract applications at a lower cost without sacrificing isolation (i.e., applications in one container are running on top of one operating system).

 

Project management for Hyperledger Fabric is done by the Linux Foundation. However, IBM did make a sizable investment in them. In any case, it may be known to some of you as the IBM blockchain. Instead of creating Ethereum smart contract languages, Fabric allows for high-level languages like Java and Go (aka Golang).

 

Because of the modular nature of Hyperledger, businesses may create solutions for a wide range of industrial use cases. Similar to Ethereum, Hyperledger provides a wide range of tools, such as Hyperledger Composer, that simplify the authoring and deployment of smart contracts.

 

3. Stellar:

 

Stellar, which ranks third on the list of smart contract platforms, was established in 2014, making it one of the first. The Stellar Development Foundation is in charge of maintaining it, and it has frequently been hailed as one of the most interesting blockchain startups available. Jed McCaleb, who is also one of the inventors of Ripple, introduced Stellar in 2014.

 

Only basic smart contract use cases, such as initial coin offerings (ICOs) or straightforward escrow contracts, are appropriate for this platform because it is the only non-Turing complete platform on our list. The limited scope of Stellar, however, makes it one of the greatest exchange platforms. Stellar outperforms every other smart contract platform in terms of transaction speed, cost efficiency, and security.

 

Industry analysts are persuaded that the Stellar network is truly taking off because of a plethora of recent positive news stories involving major corporations choosing to integrate the Stellar platform into their current infrastructure.
 

Making international payments easier is one of the main uses of Stellar that businesses are aiming to deploy. In order to provide a new, affordable method for conducting cross-border transactions in the South Pacific region, it teamed up with IBM and KlickEx in late 2017. Stellar is perhaps more user-friendly and simpler than Ethereum among the major smart contract platforms, albeit perhaps not as simple as Nem. However, its main purpose is to support basic smart contracts like ICOs.

 

           Also Read | Types of Blockchain Networks

 

     

4. Polkadot:

 

Another smart contract ecosystem, Polkadot, was developed by none other than Gavin Wood, an Ethereum co-founder. The former CTO made the decision to build his blockchain network after discovering that ETH is far from being the safe and scalable protocol that its developers had envisioned.

 

Polkadot is a blockchain network developed by the software development company Parity Technologies, and it is presently the fifth largest cryptocurrency project by market capitalization. The Web3 Foundation, another group of like-minded people working to build a decentralized web, also supports it.

 

Relay Chain, which is in charge of the network interoperability of parachains and parathreads, is a crucial part of this system. Polkadot is especially appealing since parachains enable developers to build their own blockchains with unique coins and governance structures. 

 

For hosting parachains on its blockchain network, Polkadot is renowned. This indicates that the platform may operate numerous chains inside of an already-existing blockchain, a function known as sharding in modern parlance. As was already mentioned, sharding scales blockchains so they can handle more transactions than they typically can.

 

5. Corda:

 

In contrast to Ethereum, which offers a variety of applications, Corda is concentrated on applications for digital currencies. It is a distributed-ledger platform for processing and storing historical data on digital assets. But can I use smart contracts with Corda? 

 

High-level programming languages like Java and Kotlin are used in Corda smart contracts, which run on top of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). In the meantime, Corda is Turing incomplete to support verifiability. Additionally, Corda uses a transaction-based data model.

 

Corda is frequently employed to support private platforms, which let companies set up their own network for securely exchanging digital assets. On private blockchain platforms, consensus can be reached fast. Raft is the consensus algorithm used by Corda.

 

An elected leader node (per channel) and followers that replicate its decisions make up the "leader and follower" architecture of the crash-fault-tolerant (CFT) ordering service known as Raft. CFT gives the protocol an additional layer of robustness, enabling the algorithm to proceed and reach consensus even if one or more of its constituent parts fails.

 

In Raft, reaching an agreement can be done through the selection of a leader, log replication, and safety assuranceCorda uses a point-to-point messaging system in place of the global broadcasting found in blockchains. Users must specify the message receivers and the specific information to be conveyed.

 

Also Read | Decentralized Applications (dApps)

 

6. EOS:

 

Who could possibly forget EOS? The blockchain network still vies for the title of top smart contract ecosystem, despite its reputation for being highly centralized. EOS is still a noteworthy choice that any true cryptocurrency lover should be aware of even though it is far from being dominant in this market.

 

EOS operates on its own consensus methodology dubbed the Delegated Proof-of-Stake, which is similar to that of the earlier competitors (DPoS). The team claims that its platform can handle millions of transactions per second just by staking. Additionally, the mechanism manufactures blocks more quickly and for less money.

 

EOS uses C++ to create smart contracts and WebAssembly (WASM) as its virtual machine to carry out smart contract execution. As a result, EOS finds it incredibly simple to onboard new developers because they work in a comfortable software environment.

 

However, due to its centralized structure, EOS does not have a stellar reputation. Many people worry that Chinese whales are in charge of the blockchain and that investors will never be able to regain control of the system. A section of the community known as the EOS Tribe made the decision to depart the platform as a block producer because the situation is so bad.

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Step-by-Step Working of Smart Contracts

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Advantages of Smart Contract:

 

• Speed, effectiveness, and precision:

 

The contract is promptly carried out if a condition is satisfied. Smart contracts are digital and automated, so there is no paperwork to complete or time spent fixing mistakes that frequently occur when documents are filled out manually.
 

 

• Trust and inclusivity:

 

There is no need to wonder whether information has been changed for one participant's personal gain because there is no third party engaged and participants share encrypted records of transactions.

 

 

• Security:

 

Because blockchain transaction records are encrypted, they are incredibly difficult to hack. Additionally, hackers would need to alter the entire chain in order to change a single record on a distributed ledger because each record is linked to the records that came before and after it.

 

 

• Savings:

 

Smart contracts do away with the need for middlemen to conduct transactions, along with the costs and wait times that go along with them.

 

Why is the development of smart contracts crucial for businesses?

 

Lack of trust in working with third parties is one of the biggest problems businesses encounter. Due to a lack of trust and openness, businesses take precautions and invest a lot of time and money in middlemen when settling disputes.

 

Smart contracts can be beneficial by doing away with the middlemen when contract terms can be seen by all. These contracts use blockchain technology to boost communication and trust between two parties. They also enable the development of open and accessible contracts.

 

Also Read | Everything about Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)

 

Conclusion:

 

Cryptocurrencies are a fascinating field with smart contracts in it. The future course of this market is unknown. But there's a good chance that these virtual currencies will endure and flourish in the long run.

 

Good smart contract ecosystems are in high demand, mainly because transactions are getting more and more expensive by the day. This new technology called smart contracts has the potential to increase productivity across numerous industries. 

 

As technology advances, more companies will embrace it to reduce costs and speed up secure transactions. Smart contracts can operate as intermediary agents when contract terms are visible to the public and electronically.