Building for the Blockchain
<i>Monegro believes that this paradigm shift affects the way that developers should think about their applications: “The combination of shared open data with an incentive system that prevents “winner-take-all” markets changes the game at the application layer and creates an entire new category of companies with fundamentally different business models at the protocol layer.”</i><p>Ok, thin protocols + fat apps --&gt; fat protocols + thin apps. Neat theory. But this is putting the cart before the horse. Please can someone ELI5 to me:<p>* What problem does the fat-protocol, thin-app paradigm solve?<p>* Why would anyone be interested in developing a thin app for my fat protocol any more than anyone is interested today in developing a thin protocol that I can put my fat app on top of?<p>* Why is thin-protocol, fat-app considered to be in need of fixing in the first place? I consider the fact that apps capture more value than protocols to be a direct consequence of the free market. Apps capture business value because they solve actual user problems. Protocols define ways to build apps. But frankly I don&#x27;t see a great demand for new protocols, and I consider that reason enough for the fact that protocols can&#x27;t capture much value. To say that that would change with the blockchain is IMO equivalent to saying the market has it all wrong. What am I not seeing?