Over the past few decades, several innovative technologies have surfaced that are shaking up the digital world. Blockchain technology is one of the highly disruptive innovations that is having an unfailing effect on the digital market today and in the future. The technology supports various cryptocurrencies listed on the OKX appincluding Ethereum, Bitcoin, Tether and Dogecoin.

Blockchain offers incomparable security, and for this reason, several development companies have emerged. But what does the blockchain development lifecycle entail? Broadly speaking, the process consists of eight phases, namely:

1. Identify the problem you want to solve with the Blockchain application

The blockchain development cycle begins with identifying a problem that a blockchain application can successfully solve. It would not be prudent to apply blockchain unnecessarily if it is not necessary, as it can be an expensive undertaking. That’s why it’s relevant that you identify a real problem that a blockchain application can solve.

2. Select the ideal consensus mechanism

Every blockchain company is unique, and for this reason, it takes advantage of its consensus mechanism. Popular consensus mechanisms you can select from include proof-of-stake (PoS) and proof-of-work (PoW). Depending on the project you’re working on, you can choose other consensus mechanisms, including proof-of-activity, proof-of-capacity, and proof-of-burn.

3. Choose a programming language and a blockchain

At this point, as a developer, you should focus on designing the user interface (UI) of the blockchain application. The blockchain selected to develop will influence the programming language you use, impacting how users interact with the chain.

Also, when selecting the programming language, consider its interoperability. Popular programming languages ​​you can use for blockchain development include Ruby, Java, Python, PHP, and NodeJS. Once you have decided on a programming language, you need to choose an ideal database, such as MySQL or MongoDB, to work with.

4. Choose a Blockchain Development Platform

You must choose the blockchain platform on which to develop your application. This will eliminate the need for you to build your blockchain from scratch and start developing right away. The blockchain platform you choose is based on the consensus mechanism used. Popular open source development platforms you can choose from include Blockchain, Hyperledger, MultiChain, and Ripple.

5. Build a strategy for the rest of the development stages

At this point, be sure to take your time to assess the progress made so far. Use your findings to develop a plan to complete the remaining development part more fully.

6. Start the Blockchain Architecture Design Process

Here you need to consider whether the blockchain you are developing will incorporate specified permissions for targeted user groups or whether it will be a permissionless network. Next, determine whether the application will require the use of a public or private blockchain network architecture.

7. Start the Blockchain App Development Process

You should configure the main aspects of the blockchain application at this point. Start by dealing with block signatures, permissions, and address formats. Remember that once you have implemented these aspects, you cannot change them. Therefore, carefully consider these aspects.

Next, get started developing the API for the blockchain. The purpose of APIs is to generate key pairs, store or retrieve crucial data, and audit functions. Popular APIs needed by almost all blockchain applications include; smart contract management, key management, key and address generation and smart asset cycle management.

8. Test and launch an alpha prototype of the Blockchain application

At this point, you should prepare to test and launch a first prototype of the block development process. Here you should focus on identifying emerging issues while testing your alpha release. All you need is a minimum viable product (MVP) to justify the viability of the blockchain version.