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Or can one do an ICO that creates a new crypto-token for any normal application that isn't built as a DApp?

I'm asking because there are certain new company ideas that would benefit from utilizing their own new token economy, but where the application that uses the token economy doesn't benefit from being built as a DApp.

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  • How would a company benefit from utilizing a token economy without building a Dapp? Superficially, it seems something would have to be connected into Ethereum in order to use tokens.
    – carver
    Commented Aug 23, 2017 at 21:20
  • Kik messenger is doing an ICO and they're not a DApp, which is why I'm asking.
    – Passer
    Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 17:01
  • It's possible that they will add some feature which connects into a blockchain later, even if 99% of the app is traditional.
    – carver
    Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 17:10
  • So are you asserting that as of now, if a new service is launching and wants to utilize a crypto-token, it must be built as a DApp to do so?
    – Passer
    Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 17:11

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You definitely do not need a DApp interface for a token contract (or any other contract you make on the Ethereum blockchain). DApps just make it easier for users to interact with your contract. Without a DApp, users would have to manually create transactions through their own Ethereum client, which is not impossible to do, but takes more steps. A DApp requires trust though (or a thorough review of the HTML/Javascript code), while manually interacting with a contract yourself does not.

Though you mention a crypto-token for a "normal application"; are you referring to a desktop application? Or a traditional website? If an application does not have any communication to an Ethereum node, it's not able to do anything with the Ethereum network, and wouldn't be able to interact with any crypto-token contracts (its own nor other creators').

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  • This would be a normal web-based application that utilizes crypto-tokens for value transfer between different parties.
    – Passer
    Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 16:58
  • Specially: one user would pay with crypto-tokens, get connected for an interaction with another user via a chatbot, and the other user would earn crypto-tokens.
    – Passer
    Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 16:59
  • Would such a service need to be built as a DApp? Or would a non-DApp application layer be able to utilize the tokens just fine? Kik is doing an ICO and they're not a DApp, so it seems like this is workable.
    – Passer
    Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 17:00
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    In order for off-chain functionality (chat application) to query on-chain assets something has to be the glue that interprets between the two, so some service needs to mediate between the two. You can call that service a "DApp" or whatever you like; if it has a live connection to the Ethereum blockchain, and the tokens get moved immediately when the user does a transaction, that's typically labeled as a "DApp". Or it could do an offline/sync process, where users transact in the chat application and it settles on-chain only when the users want to withdraw (like an exchange).
    – MidnightLightning
    Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 17:28
  • got it thank you. So it sounds like you could presumably have a normal application that utilizes a separate DApp to execute token transfers. I'm assuming this is what Kik is going to do once they launch their crypto-token (since Kik itself is not built as a DApp)?
    – Passer
    Commented Aug 30, 2017 at 17:37

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