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Blockchain 2.0

Bitcoin was what really gave birth to blockchain technology, and since then, several new applications of the distributed blockchain database have emerged, most notably during early 2014. This era is widely known as the era of blockchain 2.0. Namecoin was one of the first concepts to emerge. It expanded the scope of Bitcoin's blockchain and was introduced as a distributed naming system based on Bitcoin. However, unlike Bitcoin, it was able to store data as key-value pairs in the public blockchain. This concept influenced a number of blockchain 2.0 applications that would go on to gain popularity.

One of the most popular enhancements that came with blockchain 2.0 was the introduction of smart contracts. Several blockchain platforms were developed that allowed the user to write higher-level scripts and not worry about the actual blockchain implementation. One of the platforms that was most successful in doing this was Ethereum, which was proposed in late 2013 by Vitalik Buterin. The intention of Ethereum was to make the best use of the technology that Bitcoin used. Bitcoin's initial implementation was intended for the flow of digital currency. Now, although a scripting language was implemented for other applications, such as asset transfer, it was very primitive and only had a few use cases. Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, suggested that Bitcoin needed a scripting language for decentralized application development in order to increase its scope. Failing to gain agreement, Vitalik proposed the development of a new platform with a more general scripting language. This platform, Ethereum, gained popularity due to the implementation of smart contracts in its environment. Smart contracts are high-level scripts that run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). A number of decentralized applications have been developed using the Ethereum platform.

The Ethereum platform inspired developers to come up with a framework that would use Bitcoin's core protocol and build a platform to develop decentralized applications. This was a revolutionary approach, as the technology would be used to modify any application where having a third party would be both expensive and redundant.

In fact, there are plenty of motives that drive developers to integrate blockchain technology in their existing applications. In the next section, we'll explain this in more depth.

Several blockchain platforms have been created to build scalable decentralized applications; some of the most popular ones are listed here:

Corda: This is a distributed ledger platform designed to record, manage, and automate legal agreements between business partners. It was designed by R3 in collaboration with the world's biggest financial institutions, which makes Corda suitable for financial enterprises shifting toward distributed ledger technology.
Hyperledger: This is an open source effort to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies. It's hosted by the Linux Foundation and achieves collaboration between various industries and organizations. IBM and Intel, for instance, are active contributors to Hyperledger projects. There are a number of Hyperledger projects, all aimed at solving different enterprise-level problems using blockchain.
Multichain: This is a simple and powerful private blockchain framework that is compatible with Bitcoin. It has support for complete asset cycle management. Due to its support for access control, it's an ideal framework for developing permissioned blockchain applications.
NEO: Formerly known as Antshares, this application is often called "the Ethereum of China." It uses blockchain technology and digital identity to digitize assets.