Top 8 blockchain based smart contract platforms

Copyright © Blockchain Council www.blockchain-council.org
Top 8 Blockchain - Based Smart Contract
Platforms
All of us are familiar with the vending machine, which is found almost everywhere.
This is a simple yet effective smart contract example to understand how it works.
You make your choice in the machine, put in the money, and outcomes your
milkshake. Instead of this, if you had gone to a regular store, you will need to
interact with the cashier. This applies to all the valuable exchanges which happen
in our life. If you need a document or an agreement to be prepared, in real life, you
will have to take the services of a lawyer, pay them a fee, and get the document
from them.
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But this is not the case with smart contracts. In a traditional contract, there are
agreements, rules, and penalties. But in a smart contract, the penalties are
automatically meted out to the defaulters. As there are several blockchains that
offer the feature of smart contracts, it might be confusing to identify the best one,
especially if you are new to the world of blockchain.
Irrespective of whether you are a beginner or an advanced learner, this article will
prove to be useful to you as it will throw light on the current top 5 blockchain-
based smart contract platforms.
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Understanding Smart Contracts
So, what exactly is a smart contract? It refers to a self-executing contract where
the terms of the agreement between the buyer and the seller are directly written
into lines of code. The code and the agreements are contained therein exist over a
distributed, decentralized blockchain network.
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Smart contracts allow for trusted transactions and agreements to be carried out
among anonymous parties without the need for a central entity, external
enforcement mechanism, or legal system. This way, the transactions are
transparent, irreversible, and traceable. Implementing smart contracts across
various blockchains is made possible through Solidity the high-level object-
oriented programming language.
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American computer scientist Nick Szabo was the first to propose the concept of
smart contracts in 1994. He invented a virtual currency called ‘Bit Gold’ in 1998,
ten years before the invention of the Bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous
inventor of Bitcoin. Szabo is even rumoured to be the real Satoshi Nakamoto,
which he has denied. Szabo defined smart contracts as computerized transaction
protocols executing the terms of the contract.
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What Smart Contracts Can Do
● Manage agreements between users.
● Function as multi-signature accounts so that fund spending will happen only if
a certain percentage of people agree.
● Provide utility to other contracts.
● Store information about applications, such as membership records or domain
registration information.
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Best 8 Smart Contract Platforms
Let us now take a deeper look at the blockchain platforms which are best-
suited for designing smart contracts. This will help you understand what sets
them apart.
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1. Hyperledger Fabric
Hyperledger is an open-source, global collaboration that is hosted by The Linux
Foundation. Using this, one can create and develop enterprise-grade, distributed
ledger frameworks to support business transactions. It was launched in 2016 with
a technical and organizational governance structure and comprises of 30 founding
corporate members. It makes use of a modular approach to build blockchains, and
this helps companies develop what works best for them. It has attracted big
companies such as J.P.Morgan, IBM, Intel, and Samsung. More than software,
Hyperledger is a project framework.
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1. Hyperledger Fabric
Hyperledger is an open-source, global collaboration that is hosted by The Linux
Foundation. Using this, one can create and develop enterprise-grade, distributed
ledger frameworks to support business transactions. It was launched in 2016 with
a technical and organizational governance structure and comprises of 30 founding
corporate members. It makes use of a modular approach to build blockchains, and
this helps companies develop what works best for them. It has attracted big
companies such as J.P.Morgan, IBM, Intel, and Samsung. More than software,
Hyperledger is a project framework.
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Hyperledger Fabric is hosted under the umbrella of The Linux Foundation. It is a
blockchain framework that aids in developing applications or solutions with a
modular architecture. It supports the plug-and-play version of membership
services and consensus. It leverages container technology known as ‘chaincode’
to host smart contracts. Hyperledger Fabric has proved itself as an outstanding
smart contract platform and as a feasible option.
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It is co-developed by IBM, and since it is a permissioned blockchain, it is possible
to execute smart contracts or chain codes using hyperledger fabric. It means that
all the identities of all the participants of the network will be known. This is perfect
for companies aspiring to create smart contracts.
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But they have to adhere to data protection laws. Like in Ethereum, hyperledger
developers use a set of helpful tools which include Hyperledger Composer, tools
based on javascript, that helps developers create smart contracts conveniently.
Blockchain developers can use javascript, Go, and other common programming
languages too for developing smart contracts. This makes hyperledger more
flexible.
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2. NEM
NEMrefers to a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and blockchain platform that was
launched on 31 March 2015. It has now become the first choice of many
developers as it is written using java, which is one of the widely used
programming languages in the world.
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It is easily accessible, and it is not mandatory for developers to learn a platform-
specific programming language like Solidity. As per experts, the recently launched
Catapult or Mijin v.2 update by NEM renders it as the safest smart contract
platform across the globe. It is highly scalable. While Ethereum can process 15
transactions per second,NEM manages to process a 100. These features make
NEM the best choice for developers.
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3. Waves
Waves is an open-source platform launched in June 2016, which mainly focuses
on dealing with existing obstacles that come to the way of mainstream blockchain
implementation, particularly speed and scalability. In the waves ecosystem, smart
contracts enable changing the default behaviour of accounts and assets. It is not
considered a separate entity, it cannot be called, and it cannot call another smart
contract. It is considered an ideal platform for smart contracts and Initial Coin
Offerings (ICO). Waves blockchain has also created its own identity for making
token operations possible.
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4. Ethereum
Ethereum provides a decentralized machine called the Ethereum Virtual Machine
(EVM) which executes scripts using an international network of public nodes. The
ethereum community is regarded as the largest and most active blockchain
community across the globe. It includes app developers, core protocol developers,
mining organizations, Fortune 500 companies, ordinary users, etc.
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The beauty of Ethereum smart contracts lies in the support and standardization it
offers. Developing smart contracts in Ethereum is easy and less risky as the rules
a developer needs to adhere to are clearly published. Though Ethereum has the
biggest market capitalization among all the smart contract platforms, it is investing
more to improve the development and operation of smart contracts. For this
purpose, it has built Solidity, its own smart contract programming language. In
spite of some security issues and bugs in its code, Ethereum smart contracts are
widely regarded as the best choice for developers.
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5. NEO
NEO, is, no doubt, one of the most recognized blockchain projects in China and
Asia. It offers the opportunity to execute trustless smart contracts. Similar to
Ethereum, in addition to being used for financial transactions, it can also be used
as a platform for complicated transactions. It is regarded as ‘China’s Ethereum
Killer.’
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The features which distinguish it from Ethereum are:
● NEO enables developers to write languages that are already known. So, it
makes it easy to write smart contracts.
● It uses a proof of stake system with delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance
(dBFT) instead of the proof-of-work algorithm used by Bitcoin and Ethereum,
which needs a lot of computing power.
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● It has two tokens called NEO, which is the main token on the platform, and
GAS, an automatic creation that comes about when NEO is held in a wallet
which is officially approved.
Overall, NEO is a user-friendly platform, and hence building smart contracts is
made simple.
For more information about blockchain platforms, log on to Blockchain Council.
21

6. ARK
ARK refers to a decentralized cryptocurrency ecosystem designed to increase
user adoption of blockchain technology. The ARK Crew aims to develop a
sandbox development kit that will make blockchain deployment easy and efficient.
They are aiming for their platform to be used as a bridge between various
blockchains.
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The features being built by the ARK Crew are SmartBridges, Alternative
Programming Languages, and Push Button Deployable Blockchains. ARK uses
Proof-of-Stake for verification.
Any developer will feel comfortable in developing or programming ARK because
ARK supports multiple programming languages such as Python, Elixer, RPC,
Java, .NET, Go, PHP/Laravel, TypeScript API, Ruby, Nucleid, and Swift iOS. The
support of advanced PowerShell, R, C, Rust, Kotlin, and C++ will soon be
available.
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Pros
1. The speed of the ARK network.
2. Smart bridges and encoded listeners are the two features that make ARK
standout.
Cons
1. ARK promotes holding instead of spending – A return users get from voting
implies that people are more likely to hold their ARK and not sell it.
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7. Qtum
Qtum came to existence in 2016 and Qtum was viewed as a potential disruptor
that could connect amongst the Ethereum and Bitcoin ecosystems. It is the hybrid
blockchain platform that helps build DApps for mobile devices.
Qtum is compatible with ERC20 standards and can host ICOs. It also supports
SegWit and has an in-built system to leverage smart contracts which is known as
the Decentralized Governance Protocol (DGP).
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It allows clients to change the blockchain parameters rapidly and flawlessly
without disturbing the biological community. For example, when a system is
updated using DGP, the hub administrators would not need to take any activities,
and Qtum clients would not need to download new software.
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Pros
1. It uses the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). So, using smart contracts is quite
simple. Qtum also uses the Bitcoin blockchain to improve itself.
2. Qtum uses the Proof of Stake algorithm, and hence centralization of energy in
the hands of a couple of mineworkers or mining pools will not happen.
3. For quicker verification, Qtum makes use of the UTXO method for transactions.
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8- Cardano
Cardano is a decentralized public blockchain that is fully open-source. The source
code is made available either for use or modification as users or other developers
see fit. Cardano is in a race to develop a smart contract platform and is capable of
delivering more advanced features. Cardano's development team includes a large
global collective of expert engineers and researchers.
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Cardano is a cryptocurrency project aiming to create a next-generation smart
contract platform and ecosystem. Cardano's blockchain was the first-ever platform
to evolve from a scientific philosophy and a research-first driven approach. The
goal of this project is to improve scalability, governance, security, and
interoperability with traditional financial systems and regulations. Cardano's goals
are different from those of Ethereum, but the innovations can be directly compared
to Ethereum.
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Cardano is a cryptocurrency project aiming to create a next-generation smart
contract platform and ecosystem. Cardano's blockchain was the first-ever platform
to evolve from a scientific philosophy and a research-first driven approach. The
goal of this project is to improve scalability, governance, security, and
interoperability with traditional financial systems and regulations. Cardano's goals
are different from those of Ethereum, but the innovations can be directly compared
to Ethereum.
30

Pros
1. Charles Hoskinson, the CEO, was involved in Ethereum's development team.
He was one among the original co-founders of Ethereum.
2. The white paper is a technical masterpiece providing detailed analysis.
3. Cardano is trying to solve issues faced by the cryptocurrency industry, such as
scalability and democratized voting.
Cons
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The planned features are currently not in place.
Along with the above-explained ethereum alternatives, there are plenty of others
like Waves, BitShares, Chainlink, NEM, etc. which are also taking the market by
storm. Rather than focusing on each and every one of them, analyzing the top few
would be the best option to gain a fair idea of these platforms.
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Blockchain Council Certifications
You can check out our certifications, and kick start your career in the Blockchain
space today.
● Certified Blockchain Expert
● Certified Blockchain Developer
● Certified Smart Contract Developer
● Certified Solidity Developer
● Certified Ethereum Developer
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THANK YOU!
Any questions?
You can mail us at
hello@blockchain-council.org
Copyright © Blockchain Council www.blockchain-council.org 34

Top 8 blockchain based smart contract platforms

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Top 8 blockchain based smart contract platforms