Blockchain technology has been everywhere in the news thanks to its role in the function of popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The world took notice of blockchain after the value of Bitcoin skyrocketed over the course of several years, rewarding a fortunate group of early adopters with an extremely high ROI. Since then, a number of cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based solutions have appeared in the market, with many generating a fair amount of buzz and profit. Assuming you’re already familiar with the basics of blockchain, here are five steps that will need to be taken on your journey to creating a brand new blockchain solution:
1. Plan a Marketing Strategy
You can build the best blockchain solution ever, but it simply won’t go far if no one knows about it. Thus, before you even begin to invest in the development phase, it’s important to thoroughly plan how you’re going to promote the new service. Conduct preliminary market research to find an ideal audience to target in your advertising campaigns. You may also want to use a blockchain press release service to spread initial awareness leading up to and following launch day.
2. Selecting a Consensus Mechanism that Suits Your Use Case
As you probably know, blockchain is simply a digital distributed ledger system that helps to ensure the accuracy and integrity of any data passed through the system. The consensus mechanism is essentially the method through which that accuracy is maintained. While this topic is too in-depth to cover completely within this guide, the main consensus mechanisms you’ll want to research include the following:
- Deposit-based
- Byzantine Fault
- Federated Byzantine Agreement
- Proof of Elapsed Time
- Derived Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance
- Simplified Byzantine Fault Tolerance
- Redundant Byzantine Fault Tolerance
- Delegated Proof of Stake
- Proof of Stake
- Round Robin
- Federated Consensus
Each of the above mechanisms have distinct advantages, so it’s best to deal with a developer who is familiar with all of them so that they can help you choose one that will work optimally with your use case.
3. Choosing an Ideal Blockchain Platform
After you’ve chosen a suitable consensus mechanism, it’s time to choose a popular blockchain platform to base your solution on. Some of the top blockchain platforms to consider include:
- Openchain
- BigChainDB
- Ripple
- Chain Core
- Corda
- Ethereum
- HydraChain
- Multichain
- Stellar
- Quorum
- Hyperledger Fabric
It’s a good idea to look into each of the above platforms individually so you can learn more about how they work and determine which one would best suit the solution you have in mind.
4. Configuring Hardware and Nodes
Depending on how you intend to use the service, you’ll need to decide whether the solution will be permission-less (anyone can use it) or permissioned (closed to authorized parties). Alternatively, you can create a hybridized solution in which part of it is private and part of it is public. Things like hardware and node configuration should be delegated to a qualified developer or IT specialist.
5. Addressing Other Key Elements
Other elements to research and keep in mind as you’re formulating your solution include atomic exchanges, asset issuance and re-issuance, permissions, native assets, address formats, parameters, key formats, key management, multi signatures, block signatures, and hand-shaking.
Designing an Appealing User Interface
Once you have all of the above taken care of, it’s time to shift focus towards creating a robust and feature-rich user interface. Additionally, you’ll want to spend time tweaking the backend administrative interface to enhance productivity on the management side. Ultimately, aesthetics will be just as important as functionality in the eyes of your users, so a good looking front-end is essential for promoting ongoing engagement and growth.
