Top 6 Blockchain Development Platforms for Creating Smart Contracts

Blockchain technology is growing at an exponential pace. If you’re a technical geek with a knack for decentralized systems, it is imperative for you to learn about the best blockchain development platforms for smart contract development.

The smart contract is not just a technology, it’s a game-changer, propelling business processes and conventional industries in the direction of unprecedented efficiency and transparency. Whether you’re processing transactions or making a purchase, this revolutionary technology offers robustness, speed and reduced costs.

This guide navigates you through the realm of smart contracts and shows you how you can benefit from the technology by implementing it in the right place.

Let’s get started!

What is a Smart Contract?

A smart contract is a ‘trustless’ contract consisting of contractual clauses and is implemented on top of blockchains. These contractual clauses are converted into logical and executable computer programs. The smart contract is implemented automatically once predefined conditions mentioned in these clauses are met.

Since no third party or intermediary intervenes in validating the contract, smart contracts are making the dream of a ‘peer-to-peer’ market come true. This is why a smart contract is often referred to as a ‘trustless’ digital entity.

History of Smart Contract

Let’s shed some light on the history of smart contracts development. Nick Szabo was the first person to propose smart contracts in the 1990s. It came out as a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms and conditions of the contract.

It was in 2009 when the smart contract was seen in full action with the introduction of Bitcoin, a blockchain-powered decentralized platform. Later on, smart contracts started thriving with the introduction of the Ethereum platform where multiple smart contracts can be implemented.

Want to know about the key difference between Smart Contracts and traditional contracts, read the guide here!

Top-Notch Blockchain Development Platforms for Smart Contracts

We’ve carefully curated a list of the best blockchain development platforms you can use to build smart contracts. Whether you’re a seasoned blockchain developer or a learner, the following smart contract development tools can be your go-to checklist.

1. Ethereum

Since its inception in 2015, Ethereum is still considered one of the best blockchain development platforms for smart contracts. Considered the trailblazer of the smart contract platforms, it is also a preferred choice for dApp development. Other significant applications include creating games and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

Pros:

• Standardized Platform

Ethereum is one of the most standardized and secure platforms due to its clear set of guidelines. Its own dedicated programming language, Solidity, makes smart contract and dApp implementation easy.

• Massive Community

Ethereum has a dedicated set of more than 200,000 developer community which is growing at an exponential rate.

Cons:

• It has a high gas fee.
• It often experiences network congestion.
• It faces scalability issues.

Examples:

• BP

It allows energy trading between the producers and consumers with automatic smart contract implementation.

• Golem

If you have unused computing power, you can rent it out to other network users on a decentralized marketplace called Golem.

2. Solana

Solana is a major problem solver for the scalability issues perceived in Ethereum. Created in 2017 by a team of A-list software engineers from Dropbox, Qualcomm, and Intel, Solana is a next-gen smart contract development platform. It has terrific transaction processing speed because of its innovative Proof of History (PoH) consensus mechanism.

Fun Fact: Solana has hit an all-time high record of 65,000 transactions per second.

Advantages:

• Fast and Scalable

Solana has a high transaction processing speed (TPS) thus, making it a preferred choice for many developers and users.

• Built-In Features

It has numerous built-in SDKs and frameworks that offer freedom to blockchain developers to experiment and innovate.

Cons:

• It is complex for beginners to understand.
• It often faces stability issues.
• There are centralization concerns with the platform.
• A lot of times, Solana faces downtime.

Examples:

• Serum

It is a Solana-based cryptocurrency exchange platform that is robust and efficient.

• Audius

It is a platform that increases transparency and automates content distribution.

3. Polkadot

Polkadot is yet another powerful smart contract development platform created by Gavin Wood, one of the co-founders of Ethereum and the creator of Solidity. Known for its enhanced interoperability, Polkadot uses parachains and parathreads, which allow developers to create their own blockchains. You can consider it as a blockchain ecosystem rather than a traditional distributed ledger.

Advantages:

• Cross-Chain Compatibility

Because of parachains and parathreads that enable parallel processing, Polkadot offers interoperability among various blockchains. This means that developers can share data amongst various blockchain platforms.

• Pool of SDKs

Polkadot is one of the favorite tools for developers as it provides software development kits (SDKs) and many preconfigured templates that support other popular programming languages such as JavaScript.

• High Scalability

This blockchain development platform is highly scalable. Therefore, it does not face network traffic congestion.

Disadvantages:

• It is still in its development stage.
• Only a limited number of parachains are available.
• It has a complex architecture.

Examples:

• Kilt Protocol

It allows decentralized identity management and control over personal data.

• Acala

It offers DeFi interoperability across numerous popular smart contract platforms.

4. Hyperledger Fabric

If you’re searching for the best blockchain development platform for enterprises, look no further than the Hyperledger Fabric. This platform was founded in 2015 by the Linux Foundation and 30 co-founding corporate members, including industry giants like IBM, J.P. Morgan, Cisco, Intel, and others. It is highly secure since it is a private blockchain development platform equipped with modular architecture and consensus mechanisms.

Advantages:

• Permissioned Blockchain

Since it is a private blockchain, enterprises can harness its power to perform trusted transactions among their reliable partners. Only authorized individuals/parties can participate in transactions.

• Enhanced Scalability

This blockchain has a high throughput because of its crash fault tolerance.

Disadvantages:

• It lacks decentralization properties.
• Since it is a private blockchain, it has limited adoption.

Examples:

• Change Healthcare

Healthcare institutions are able to share patient data, claims and medical records privately.

• Walmart

This retail chain utilizes blockchain for enhanced supply chain traceability and product tracking.

5. Cardano

Cardano is another blockchain development platform created in 2015 by Charles Hoskinson, one of Ethereum’s co-founders. It is an open-source and public blockchain platform suitable for smart contract development. The platform uses its proprietary blockchain cryptocurrency called ADA. The special features of this blockchain include facilitating peer-to-peer transactions and utilizing a research-driven approach.

Advantages:

• Research-Driven Approach

Cardano offers a comprehensive research and peer-review process for its updates through a team of verified experts in cryptography, computer science, and blockchain technology. They cross-check the proposed changes before deployment.

• Efficient Energy

This blockchain development platform utilizes its flagship, Ouroboros Proof of Stake (PoS) which offers enhanced energy efficiency and sustainability as compared to other blockchains.

• High Security

Since Cardano harnesses the power of an academically-backed team to propose the required changes, there is a double-layer check to the blockchain’s development process, thus ensuring increased security.

Disadvantages:

• It is devoid of a massive number of use cases.
• It follows a slow blockchain development process.
• Its ecosystem is still in the developing stage.

Examples:

• Wolfram Blockchain Labs

You can perform analytical tasks through various computational tools and Oracle services.

• Atala PRISM

It is a self-sovereign identity (SSI) platform, which is a decentralized identity solution for verifying data and digital identity.

6. Stellar

Stellar is an excellent open-source blockchain development platform for smart contracts development. It was created by one of the Ripple founders Jed McCaleb, in 2014. Because of its streamlined transaction processing, Stellar is a suitable blockchain development platform for smart contracts. It offers low-cost transfers and cross-border transactions between any pair of currencies.

Advantages:

• Native Smart Contract Platform

Stellar introduced its native smart contracts development platform called Soroban in 2022. It offers a collaborative environment for creating smart contracts and offers a broad spectrum of plug-and-play SDKs, a local sandbox, and an RPC server.

• Multi-Core Scaling

State bloats are one of the most common blockchain challenges. Stellar’s native smart contracts development platform, Soroban, supports multi-core scaling which eliminates these state bloats.

• Built-In DEX

Stellar has a built-in decentralized exchange (DEX) functionality that follows decentralized protocols for digital currency to fiat money transactions with high transaction processing speed (TPS).

Disadvantages:

• Stellar has a small blockchain developer community.
• It never produces multiple valid chains like Ethereum or Bitcoin.
• It does not have its own official wallet and depends upon the community for wallet provision.

Examples:

• Chaincerts

It is a Stellar-powered platform for verifying digital credentials, which eliminates potential fraud risks.

• IBM World Wire

It uses blockchain technology and the Stellar protocol to offer a frictionless experience in cross-border payments at an affordable cost.

Conclusion

With the worldwide adoption of blockchain technology, smart contract development is an emerging business requirement. It has enabled secure and frictionless digital transactions without any intrusion of third-party intermediaries. Whether you’re a skilled blockchain developer or learner, you can choose any of the above-mentioned blockchain platforms from the list to begin smart contract development.