For Web Developers

Benefits

True Open Source

You can make your code open source with a permissive license, but that's not truly open. Users that want to build on top of your work must either work with you directly, or start over by building up their own social network and user-generated content from scratch.

The fullest way to embody the values of FOSS is to have an open backend. In doing so, you are sacrificing the ability to grow complacent. You can't rely on the network effects to save you, if you stop making a great product. But you are also building something that is fair, open, and potentially bigger than anything you could ever do all by yourself.

Transparency for Users

Trust in institutions like Big Tech is at an all time low. Using Chopin Framework can give your users that same sense of ownership and control that people have when using Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Users know that upgrades are optional. If they don't like the new direction of an app, they can use an older fork. They are able to understand exactly how their data is being used and can rest assured that the app is accurately relaying information to them.

Better Auth System

Passwords are outdated and insecure. Chopin Framework automatically generates accounts whenever a new user visits a webpage. These accounts are controlled by an embedded wallet that can use cryptographic signatures instead of passwords.

This allows frictionless interactions, with no sign up needed. For an example, see the chat demo on the homepage.

Furthermore, these accounts can be authorized to work on any other Chopin-based app and blockchain that uses secp256k1 signatures (like Ethereum and Cosmos chains). As a result of this interoperability, blockchain users can also seemlessly login to Chopin-based apps using their crypto wallets.

Better Revenue Model

In the blockchain world, Chopin-based apps are what would be called a rollup. Rollups utilize other blockchains in order to gain security, but are able to run whatever computations without relying on the virtual machine built into the blockchain.

The act of using blockchains for this purpose is called sequencing, because you are taking the data from your app and putting it sequentially on the the blockchain ("onchain"). However, this is not free.

Existing blockchain apps have proven that it can actually be quite profitable to charge their users more than the base cost of sequencing, and pocket the difference. In this way, profit scales proportionally to how much use their app gets.

This model may not work on the web, because users are not accustomed to paying microtransactions for every interaction they make on a website. That's why Modular Cloud hosted sequencer service covers this cost for all users. However, along with this feature Modular Cloud will also soon announce a new way to monetize that works similarly to sequencing fees but is more suited for the web.

Better Financing

The blockchain industry has a vibrant ecosystem full of venture capitalists and accredited investors. Apps built on Chopin Framework have the opportunity to raise from a wider array, and a more forward-thinking set, of investors.

Furthermore, established projects in blockchain space are famous for giving generous equity-free grants to new apps that are integrating with them.

Reward Users

Crypto takes gamification to the next-level. Giving points and achievements to users in your app now is backed with the full security of a cryptocurrency. Soon these will also be interoperable with the broader crypto ecosystem.

So for example, an achievement unlocked in your app could be showcased in a user's Ethereum wallet.

Blockchain Interop

Chopin apps can read data from existing blockchains. Once bridging is introduced, other blockchains will be able to verify the state of Chopin-based apps. This allows Chopin apps to interoperate with each other securely, while also harnessing the full power of the broader blockchain ecosystem.

Supercharged Contributions

Open backends unlock new ways for people to collaborate. In upcoming an announcement, Chopin Framework will unveil plans that enable developers to collaborate on competing visions of the same app, through forking, while sharing in the profit with all parties making a meaningful contribution.

Furthermore, since Chopin apps are open source, they can take advantage of platforms like Algora to incentivize community contributions.

Challenges

Extraordinary effort has gone into making Chopin Framework easy and inexpensive to use. However, in the spirit of full transparency, here are some of the costs and considerations developers ought to keep in mind before deciding to use it.

1. Sequencing Costs - Chopin Framework works with your existing host (i.e. Vercel). However, there is an additional piece of infrastructure that has to run in order for your application to communicate with the blockchain. This is called the sequencer. You can either use Modular Cloud's hosted sequencer, or run the sequencer yourself. This is an extra cost to running your application and creates another piece of infrastructure you need to keep track of.
2. Latency - We add middleware between the client and server. Therefore, a small amount of latency will be introduced to all requests. Although we don't have exact metrics at this time, this is anecdotally unnoticeable.
3. Scaling Performance - Currently, all write requests on to your web app are added to a queue and executed sequentially. That means users may experience additional latency when there is a large number of requests coming in at once. As you are getting started, this won't be a problem. However, it is something you will face as you scale. Luckily, there are a lot of improvements we can make to address this in the future.
4. Extra Considerations - When developing your app, there are a few additional requirements to keep in mind in order to make sure it works properly.
5. Early Adopter Status - Chopin Framework is very early in its development cycle. Therefore, you will face issues using it in its current state. However, long-term this will be resolved.