Stanford Students Built 16 Ethereum-Based dApps, Without an ICO

Without viable prototypes and working products, blockchain developers can raise tens of millions of dollars in a matter of days to start the process of development.

As seen in the case of Tezos, raising many millions of dollars often lead to disputes within the founding members of a blockchain project, prolonging and delaying the development of the blockchain network.

This week, students attending Stanford's CS 359B program "Designing Decentralized Applications on Blockchain" developed 16 blockchain-based decentralized applications on the Ethereum protocol, creating applications to maximize the potential of peer-to-peer digital asset trading and transaction processing.

The official description of CS 359B program emphasized that apart from lectures which focus on explaining the elements of blockchain application development, students actively create and develop blockchain applications on smart contract protocols.

"Alongside lectures, there will be a quarter-long project where students design, implement and evaluate a novel distributed application on a modern blockchain, such as the ones of the Ethereum or NEO cryptocurrencies."

Projects showcased by Stanford earlier 2018 created applications that require the blockchain and maximize decentralization.

This is in contrast to many ICOs whose fundamentals are based on blockchain buzzwords such as "High-performance protocol" and "Proof-of-stake" and lack innovation and uniqueness.

In consideration of these ventures and the worrying trend of ICOs resorting to buzzword and blockchain jargon-based projects to raise tens of millions of dollars, the Ethereum community expressed optimism towards some of the projects created by Stanford students that utilized blockchain technology in applications that are in absolute necessity of decentralization.

Blockchain technology as a database is highly inefficient, as Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin previously noted.

The demonstration of blockchain potential with products that can only exist on the blockchain such as India HouseChain, that verify ownership of real estate and properties in a decentralized and transparent manner, can be considered a positive development in the blockchain sector.