Blockchain, one of the popular names in the industry over the past few decades, especially after the establishment of Bitcoin. Initially, blockchain technology was used for cryptocurrency to record and verify transactions, but today, this technology has overtaken many technologies and has made its special place across various industries. Several domains, including supply chain, healthcare, voting systems, finance, and many others, are leveraging its capabilities. If you also run a similar business, then it is a must to integrate blockchain development solutions into your business to make your workflow more streamlined. There are many companies in the market providing blockchain development solutions at a reasonable price. However, if you want to build your own blockchain application, then you will require expertise in this domain or need a guide that will help you build your own blockchain-based application.

In this blog, we will guide you through the process of blockchain app development. We will cover each step in detail, so make sure to follow along.

What is Blockchain Technology?

Blockchain technology is nothing but a decentralized system that keeps data in a secure manner. The decentralized term refers to a system where the data is shared with everyone, and no individual entity or person is responsible for managing the entire data. Blockchain technology leverages cryptography to secure the data and transactions happening. Each data is attached to one another in such a way that no single entity can make changes or delete specific data to ensure the consistency and integrity of the data.    

What is Blockchain App Development? 

Blockchain app development is the practice of developing decentralized apps by leveraging blockchain technology. The development process utilizes its powerful features, such as decentralization, transparency, immutability, and scalability, to build secure apps. Applications developed by leveraging such technology eliminate the need for third-party intervention.      

An Overview of Blockchain Applications

Unlike traditional applications, where a whole system depends on a single entity to control overall data, which sometimes leads to a single point of failure, blockchain applications overcome this challenge by making the system decentralized. Rather than running the backend code on centralized servers, these app run their code in a decentralized computer network to ensure transparency and eliminate dependency. Moreover, these systems utilize smart contracts to automate and execute agreements instead of relying on a third party.  

How to Create a Secure Blockchain App

There are a few steps that must be followed in order to develop a secure blockchain application. In this section, we have listed a few steps that are involved in creating a blockchain app: 

Step 1: Exploring the Domains For App Development

Blockchain technology is utilized in several areas to develop secure applications. Therefore, it is important to first identify which domain you want to leverage its capabilities to build your own blockchain app. Here we have listed a few major domains where blockchain development solutions are utilized to develop scalable apps:  

Insurance

Insurance systems are leveraging blockchain development solutions to enhance customer satisfaction, lower costs, and improve operational efficiency. 

Banking and Finance  

These domains leverage blockchain features such as its efficiency, security transparency to implement features like secure payment transactions, syndicated loans, fraud detection, and tokenization.     

Supply Chain 

Here, blockchain capabilities are used to create applications that can record transactions and allow stakeholders to track their products from the very initial stage to their delivery. Supply chain industries such as manufacturing, retail, and logistics leverage custom blockchain development services to ensure product authenticity and purity.

Healthcare

It is quite difficult to store and manage patient records in multiple systems. Storing records in multiple devices increases the risk of data theft and results in poor communication between platforms. Custom blockchain development services enhance security and streamline various healthcare processes by storing the records in a secure and transparent platform. 

Real Estate

Buying or selling real estate always carries certain risks, excessive paperwork, potential fraud, and inaccuracies in public records. Blockchain technology offers a promising solution by reducing reliance on paper-based documentation. It enables secure, transparent, and reliable recording, tracking, and transferring of land titles within the real estate sector.

Select one domain that aligns with your business goals and start building your own blockchain-based application.   

Step 2: Analyse Your Competitors 

The next step is to analyse competitor strategies and discover their tactics, so you can come up with better strategies than they do. Visit their websites and social media accounts to analyse their strategies. 

Step 3: Select The Blockchain Type 

Once you get an idea of how you can utilise blockchain for developing several types of apps and identify your domain you want to build your app for, now it’s time to select the blockchain type you will be using to build your app based on your business requirements. Blockchain is mainly divided into 4 types, which are:

1. Public Blockchain

As the name suggests, this type of blockchain is not restricted and can be utilized and accessed by anyone. Public blockchains are well-suited for developing applications like cryptocurrencies and decentralized apps. 

2. Private Blockchain

Unlike public blockchain, where anyone can access and utilize the blockchain, private blockchain restricts access and allows only selected entities to access the network, offering greater security compared to public blockchain. These types of blockchains are well-suited for domains like healthcare, finance, and supply chain management. 

3. Hybrid Blockchain

It combines the features of both public and private blockchain, where certain aspects are managed by an organization, while others are made transparent on a public blockchain. Hybrid blockchains are well-suited for identity verification, healthcare, and government apps. 

4. Consortium Blockchain

This type of blockchain is similar to a hybrid blockchain and consists of some features of both blockchain types, but here, multiple organizations are responsible for managing the network. This type of blockchain is appropriate for applications that require real estate management, energy management, and intellectual property management.   

Step 4: Pick Your Blockchain Platform

The next step is to select the right blockchain platform on which to develop your blockchain application. There are numerous platforms that support blockchain app development, each offering different features and pricing levels. Choose the one that most aligns with your business goals and app needs. A few of the most popular blockchain platforms include:

Ethereum: Developers commonly use this blockchain platform to build smart contracts and decentralized apps

IBM Blockchain: This platform is more enterprise-focused, providing secure and scalable blockchain development solutions for companies. 

Hyperledger Fabric: This is one of the open-source blockchain frameworks appropriate for enterprise use.   

R3 Corda: Another well-known blockchain platform, focusing more on providing secure and permissioned transactions.  

Tezos: this platform allows users to upgrade and improve its protocol and focuses more on governance, security, and smart contracts.

EOSIO: Developers designed EOSIO as a blockchain platform specifically for dApps and custom blockchain development services.

Step 5: Plan and Design Your Blockchain Application

Once you are done with the type and the platform you will be using to build your app, it’s time to plan and design your blockchain app. Here, you will have to determine what features you want to implement in your app. Make sure to specify the budget, and design accordingly.  

An effective design clearly maps out every feature and ensures it functions smoothly.

Step 6: Develop and Test

Once the planning and designing phase is over, the real development of your app begins. During this phase, you will be converting your conceptual design into a working and secure application by creating the inner logic of the blockchain application, i.e., smart contracts and self-enforcing agreements. Then, the developers integrate the application with other important components, such as the front-end UI, databases, and APIs.

After the completion of your development phase, you need to verify whether it’s working according to your business needs or not. For this, you will have to perform different types of testing, such as unit testing, integration testing, end-to-end testing, and regression testing. After verifying the functional and non-functional components of the applications, if any issue occurs, they must be fixed before the deployment phase.    

Step 7: Deployment and Maintenance

Once the application becomes bug-free and functions work as intended, it can be deployed in a production environment where it is made available for end users. However, after deployment, you can consult an expert blockchain service provider to make any required changes based on your requirements   

Conclusion 

Following the mentioned steps clearly will definitely help you build your own blockchain application. However, if you don’t know much about this technology and get stuck in between, it is recommended to get help from a blockchain expert.