A vast number of dApps utilize Ethereum’s developer environment and infrastructure partially because it was the first blockchain to facilitate smart contract development. However, the excessive use of Ethereum has made it congested and prohibitively expensive to use due to its increased popularity and network load. Several layer-1 alternatives emerged as an answer for providing smart contract capabilities to developers with more capacity and lower gas fees, including Fantom, Solana, and Avalanche. Additionally, layer-2 scaling solutions like Polygon were created to accelerate and support dApp development.
One of the primary objectives of all these blockchains was to make development on Web3 faster, easier, and cheaper. However, despite the new protocols and alternatives, many dApps still face congested networks, transaction complexity, and high gas fees. The primary issue is that dApps developed using smart contracts on layer-1 blockchains utilize the same virtual machine, which offers limited operational resources.
Web3 developers now have several options for building dApps, including developing a new layer-1 blockchain, developing dApps on top of an existing layer-1 blockchain, developing dApps on layer-2 scaling solutions, and launching dApps on an App Chain. However, the first three options have limitations and drawbacks, including feasibility issues, cost, speed, and scalability. The fourth option of launching dApps on App Chain is better than the first three alternatives because it offers flexibility and scalability while enabling developers to create custom blockchains.
Application-specific blockchains or App Chains are blockchains that dedicate all resources to a specific Web3 application. Ankr, a Web3 infrastructure company, developed App Chains-as-a-Service to enable Web3 developers to build custom blockchains for their decentralized applications more easily.
Ankr is a Web3 infrastructure and blockchain software technology company based in San Francisco and founded by Chandler Song, Stanley Wu, and Ryan Fang in 2017. Chandler Song is also the chief executive officer of the Web3 infrastructure and blockchain technology company. Ankr offers several products, services, and platforms for supporting and promoting decentralization and Web3 applications. The company started as a distributed cloud computing network, connecting and harnessing the surplus power of cloud computing data centers for blockchain node hosting. However, Ankr witnessed rapid growth and started focusing on Web3 infrastructure, blockchain nodes, and other platforms or services related to Web3 and blockchains. The company focuses on offering a one-stop solution for all issues and needs related to Web3 development and blockchain infrastructure.
Ankr offers several products and services to help developers create Web3 applications. The company’s most prominent products and services include its Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service, a Web3 gaming SDK, liquid staking, application-specific blockchain engineering, Advanced API and SDK, and other solutions for enterprises. Ankr’s global blockchain-node network enhances and expedites RPC requests on nodes while reducing latency for blockchain data access. The company plans to promote the decentralization philosophy behind Web3 infrastructure by decentralizing its computing services and node network by welcoming independent node providers to serve RPC requests.
Coming back to the matter of increasing blockchain scalability, the App Chains-as-a-Service offered by Ankr comprises a collection of tools enabling dApp developers to create custom blockchains according to the specific needs of their applications or programs. The company’s App Chains enhance scalability because developers can create customized blockchains rather than hosting dApps by creating new layer-1 blockchains or, on top of existing blockchains, using smart contracts. The primary rationale behind Ankr’s service is to create scalable blockchains for enterprise-level throughput to support the growth of Web3 dApps. Scalability has long been an issue regarding dApps and the development of other Web3 applications. However, App Chains-as-a-Service enhances scalability while enabling developers to create customized blockchains for dApps according to their requirements.
Developers can customize their new blockchain consensus mechanisms, development frameworks, and programming languages with Ankr’s App Chains according to their requirements or needs. Web3 developers do not have to rely on the available options on layer-1 blockchain platforms while still utilizing the provenance and security of the primary chain. App Chains are dedicated blockchains that house a particular dApp rather than reinforcing congestion by hosting multiple dApps. Ankr developed the App Chains-as-a-Service to help developers create dedicated App Chains on networks like Polygon, BNB Chain, and Avalanche rather than competing with thousands of other dApps for traffic on existing layer-1 blockchains.
