The DecentraTech Stack

The DecentraTech Stack is a collection of technologies that are the building blocks and toolsets of decentralized applications (DApps) and decentralized networks, and hence enablers of decentralization.
 
The list below includes both basic technology building blocks and also toolsets, which are typically combinations of building blocks that provide common functionality. 
 
The term network node describes an individual processing unit (hardware or virtual) and DApp instance running on it that connects with others to form a decentralized network.

The DecentraTech Stack includes:

• Blockchain and Distributed Ledgers – a key component providing consensus and immutability. Consensus allows network nodes to agree on particular events/facts, and immutability ensures that those agreements cannot be tampered with.
• Digital Asset Wallets and Smart Contracts – providing repositories to store digital assets/tokens and processing logic to implement workflows for these assets.
• Cross Chain Connectivity, Interoperability Approaches and Oracles – allowing blockchains to interact with one another, and with non-blockchain systems and external data sources.
• Cryptography, Cryptographic Proofs, Zero Knowledge Proofs and Key Management – as well as being key to blockchain architectures, provide fundamental mechanisms for human and machine users to engage with decentralized systems, and improve usability of DApps.
• Peer-to-peer Networks and Decentralized Mesh Protocols – providing direct connectivity between DApp network nodes without requiring central routers or hubs.​
• Edge Computing Devices, Operating Systems and Middleware – implementing the hardware and systems software environment for network nodes on which DApps run.

Vertical Divider

• Confidential and Multi-Party Computing – approaches to processing of sensitive data, provided by multiple network nodes, in a secure manner.
• Serverless Computing and API Management – DApp design and implementation architectures that allow for elegant componentization of processing logic.
• Decentralized Databases and Storage, and Query and Synchronization Mechanisms – supplying off-chain data storage for DApps, and mechanisms to allow multiple data stores to maintain a common state.
• Token Standards, Platforms and Tools for the Exchange of Value – mechanisms to allow physical assets to be represented in digital (tokenized) form, and then processed in various ways, including decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
• Self-Sovereign Identity, Decentralized Identifier and Verifiable Credentials Approaches – allowing individuals and network nodes to maintain unique identities and personal attributes, and control who they are shared with, and for what purpose.
• “Own Your Data” Frameworks – aligned with SSI, focused on allowing individuals to control personal data and with how it might be shared with others.​

​The above list is subject to revision, and we welcome community feedback on any of the technologies included above, and any that we might have missed!