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If we need to access to the Dapp from a website (which requires a central DNS, a central hosting, a central team developing the front etc), does not that mean the app is not decentralized?

Can we create our custom front to interact with the smart contracts of the Dapp and everything will work (I mean, even when the front is centralized is not important for the app and everybody can create another front if he prefers)?

Related with (but not answered there):
Where are DApps hosted?
Which ethereum dapps are 100% decentralized and not semi-decentralized (centralized)?

Paul Razvan Berg
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Enrique
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  • the informations has to be decentralized, so that nobody can't change them (and nobody can manipulate them)... the way you display them, is up to you (since those should be stored in a decentralized smart contract, anybody can fetch them and then display in the way they prefer ) –  Sep 28 '21 at 17:31
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    I would just answer the same I already answered in the linked answer: the point is to keep the core (smart contracts) decentralized, and anyone is free to create whatever type of user interface on top of it. So, yes, you can create your custom front. – Lauri Peltonen Sep 28 '21 at 18:34
  • @LauriPeltonen does that apply for NFT games like Axie too? – Enrique Sep 28 '21 at 20:27
  • As far as I've understood, stuff like Axie is mostly centralized. Just some NFT things are in smart contracts, but their utilization is centralized. So, no, you can't just create a new front for Axie. – Lauri Peltonen Sep 29 '21 at 04:59

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Summary

The backend infrastructure (smart contract or ipfs data) will still be decentralized. However, frontend will be centralized.

Hosting frontend on centralized servers

  • The access to backend functionalities (smart contracts, decentralized data - ipfs or filecoin, etc.) is enabled via frontend.
  • There is a risk if your frontend is hosted on a centralized platform like AWS or Firebase.
  • In such a scenario, the centralized entity controls your frontend, and your website can be taken down or would not work in adverse situations like server down.

Hosting frontend on decentralized servers

  • Instead of one central server storing your entire frontend files, a copy of files is stored with multiple nodes.
  • If a few nodes are down, stop working, or refuse to host your files, other nodes will still be operating. Thus, your site downtime is almost 0 unless all nodes (or a max. threshold) stop functioning.

How to host frontend on decentralized servers?

  • There are decentralized hosting tools like - Spheron
  • Decentralized storage tools - Web3 Storage, Filecoin
  • There are many more. I'm still searching. If you find one, do let me know.
Raushan Sharma
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