As crypto mixes with culture, dapp offerings continue to diversify and mature. Many visionary projects dissolved into the ether during the long, cold bear market, yet we can feel their traces in brilliant apps we love and use today. Resilient weeds poke out of the proverbial dapp cemetery, calling on their ancestors' goals and code bases to deliver new modes of value exchange and network collaboration. RareArt crawled so Zora could run. PepeAvatars are reminiscent of the abandoned CryptoPepes. Ujo sowed the seeds for Audius to have 3 million active users today.
Now that you've memorized the best security practices and added ETH to your MetaMask account, it's time to jump right into browsing dapps. Most are available for download for free either through the Apple or Google Play stores or directly through their websites as demos, betas, or fully-fledged releases.
⚠️ Always do your research, as Ethereum is a new technology. Before depositing significant quantities of money, make sure you understand the risks.
Essentials
Browsers, wallets, and must-have utilities to engage with Ethereum.
MetaMask: Web browser plug-in that connects your device to the Ethereum network. MetaMask also enables peer-to-peer sharing and token swapping.
Brave: A web and mobile browser integrated with BAT and ERC-20 tokens.
Ethereum Name Service: Create a personalized and straightforward ETH wallet address.
3box: All-in-one sign-in, profile, and cloud storage on Ethereum.
Civic: Secure identity and data management on the blockchain.
MyEtherWallet: A free, open-source, client-side interface for generating Ethereum wallets and more.
MyCrypto Wallet: Swap, send, and buy crypto with your favorite wallets with this Ethereum wallet manager.
SelfKey: A self-sovereign identity system. Art Marketplaces
Art Marketplaces
Mint, buy, and trade non-fungible digital art.
Rarible: The first community-owned NFT marketplace.
Zora: Universal market protocol for NFTs with an innovative creator share for artist royalties on resales.
Foundation: Invest in unique editions of digital artwork and trade pieces with other buyers.
SuperRare: A marketplace to collect and trade unique, single-edition digital artworks.
Bitski: Create, sell, and display NFTs.
Nifty Gateway: Access some of today's most sought-after fine art and collectibles.
Ephemera: A marketplace for lens-based artists and galleries.
Async Art: Create, collect, and trade programmable art.
Cent: A social network turned NFT marketplace.
MakersPlace: a marketplace for sharing and collecting rare digital creations
Mintable: A platform that lets you mint, manage, and browse digital items on the blockchain.
OpenSea: A peer-to-peer trading market for crypto-collectibles and rare digital items.
Music
Want to pay musicians directly for their work? Check out these apps
Catalog: A platform to collect, trade, and listen to provably authentic works. Artists receive 100% on their initial sale and also set a percentage fee upfront that they'll receive on every resale.
Audius: a music streaming and sharing platform that puts the power back into content creators' hands.
Decentralized Finance
Web3's answer to traditional finance. Even with the widespread proliferation of fintech solutions, billions of people remain unbanked. Even those with bank accounts often have blocked transactions or cannot receive loans. DeFi doesn't sleep, nor does it discriminate. With just an internet connection, a wallet, and a bit of know-how, you can send, receive, borrow, earn interest, and even stream funds anywhere in the world.
Lending and Borrowing
Oasis Borrow: Put your assets to work. Lock your tokens as collateral to generate DAI.
Compound Finance: Open source protocol for algorithmic, efficient money markets on the Ethereum network.
AAVE: is an open source, non-custodial protocol to earn interest on deposits and borrow assets.
Yearn.Finance: a decentralized yield aggregator that optimizes your token lending.
Pooling and Investments
Pool Together: A lottery you can't lose. Earn prizes every week.
Index Coop: A crypto index fund which gives your portfolio exposure to top DeFi tokens.
Token Sets: an asset management platform with tokenized trading strategies.
Dharma: A suite of smart contracts and developer tools that make it possible to borrow and lend crypto-assets on blockchains like Ethereum
Lendoit: A decentralized peer-to-peer lending platform that connects borrowers and lenders.
InstaDApp: A decentralized bank built on top of the MakerDAO protocol.
Nexus Mutual: A decentralized alternative to insurance. Ensure your smart contracts with a risk-sharing pool.
Etherisc: A decentralized insurance protocol to collectively build risk transfer solutions. Products include flight delay insurance, hurricane protection, crypto wallet insurance, collateral protection for crypto-backed loans, crop insurance, and social insurance.
dYdX: A decentralized margin trading platform. Open short or leveraged positions with leverage up to 10x. Lend and borrow as well.
Synthetix: A protocol for the issuance of on-chain synthetic assets that track the value of real-world assets.
Portfolios
Zapper: Track and visualize your DeFi assets and liabilities on a simple dashboard.
Rotki: An open source portfolio tracking, analytics, and crypto accounting platform.
Zerion: Build and manage your entire DeFi portfolio from one place.
Token Exchanges
Decentralized exchanges and peer-to-peer options for buying, storing, and trading digital currencies.
1inch: DEX aggregator and a single point of entry for DeFi
AirSwap: A decentralized token marketplace.
LocalEthereum: A safe, fast and private way to buy and sell ETH through various methods.
IDEX: A decentralized exchange with real-time trading and high transaction throughput.
LEVERJ: A self-custodial, high frequency, futures trading decentralized exchange.
ForkDelta: A decentralized Ethereum token exchange.
Bancor: A decentralized liquidity network, token exchange, and bounties.
0x: A protocol for decentralized exchange that is utilized by platforms like Radar Relay, DDEX, Paradex, Tokenlon, and Matcha.
Liquality: The first multi-chain browser extension wallet, making it the easiest way to swap crypto across blockchains.
Curve: An AMM optimized for stablecoins, working as an exchange on one side and allowing liquidity providers to earn fees and lending interest on the other side
Uniswap: Automated token exchange on Ethereum.
Set: A protocol for creating and managing token baskets for investing and trading.
Synthetix: Exchange synthetic fiat currencies collateralized by crypto-assets.
Sushiswap: A community-run automated market-making DEX currently on the Ethereum blockchain.
Loopring: Peer-to-peer trading platform built for speed. zkRollup Exchange and Payment Protocol.
DAOs
DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) are becoming the primary DeFi governance mediums in crypto and conservatively oversee more than $480 million.
MakerDAO: A multifaceted DAO that features the OasisDEX exchange, investment products, and the DAI stablecoin.
Badger: A single purpose DAO: build the products and infrastructure necessary to accelerate Bitcoin as collateral across other blockchains.
Aragon: Dis-intermediates the formation and management of organizations.
MolochDAO: Originally created to fund Ethereum 2.0 grants and now invests in Ethereum development
DXdao: Develops, governs, and grows DeFi protocols and products.
The LAO: A member-directed venture capital fund organized in the United States, with an aim to be compliant with U.S. law.
FlamingoDAO: An NFT-focused DAO that aims to explore emerging investment opportunities for ownable, blockchain-based assets.
PeepsPoolParty: Goal-based community fundraising, where DAOs DeFi.
Prediction Markets
The internet of value, where everything from wisdom to music to computer power and goods in virtual worlds enter the marketplace.
Augur: A decentralized prediction market for forecasting real-world events.
Golem: A global, open-source, decentralized supercomputer that anyone can utilize.
Gnosis: A protocol and prediction market for digital asset valuation.
district0x: Create interconnected marketplaces and token-powered communities.
Origin: A protocol for creating peer-to-peer marketplaces utilizing Ethereum and IPFS.
Enjin Coin: Enjin offers a suite of products for creating, managing, trading, storing, exploring, distributing, and integrating blockchain-based assets.
Polymarket: Bet on outcomes. Trade on information markets.
Work
Do stuff, get paid!
Gitcoin: The easiest way to monetize or incentivize work in open-source software.
Ethlance: Find work and get compensated in digital currencies.
Numerai: Earn cryptocurrency in weekly data science competitions.
Gluon.Network: Develop on a fully operational Ethereum Layer2 chain.
OpenLaw: Create smart legal contracts and agreements.
Request: Send Invoices and get paid securely in crypto (or fiat).
Radicle: Secure peer-to-peer code collaboration without intermediaries.
Tokit: A platform for crowdfunding media via artist tokenization.
Storj: Earn crypto by renting out your extra hard drive space.
Collectibles
CryptoPunks: The inspiration for the ERC-721. Collect and trade 10,000 unique characters.
Avastars: Generate avatars for the increasingly booming metaverse.
Hashmasks: Digital art collectibles with a dynamic value hierarchy.
EulerBeats: An ultra scarce digital art + beat collection generated on-chain by applying mathematical discoveries of Euler.Games and Virtual Worlds
Decentralized games have evolved—from slow, expensive interactions with 2D cuddly collectibles to conquering planets in a profoundly immersive hidden-information game based on sci-fi and zkSNARK technology.
Axie Infinity: Earn Small Love Potion (SLP) while you collect, raise, and battle fantasy creatures called Axie.
Brave Frontier Heroes: the crossover of the successful mobile game BRAVE FRONTIER and the #1 blockchain game My Crypto Heroes.
Dark Forest: Discover and conquer planets in an infinite, procedurally-generated, cryptographically-specified universe.
Sorare: A fantasy soccer game running on Ethereum. Sorare operates on Ethereum's underlying blockchain network to secure the ownership and distribution of cards. Users can trade players, enter weekly tournaments & compete for prizes worth thousands of pounds.
EthSnakes: A decentralized version of Snake and Ladders. Players can be sure that results haven't been manipulated by verifying every bet's integrity by checking the contract in Github and Etherscan.
Ethermon: Capture, battle, and trade Ether Monsters. Trade Monsters and collect in-game currency for monetary reward.
Gods Unchained: A trading card game. Build your deck of ERC-721 cards and participate in competitive weekly tournaments with massive prizes.
Decentralized Nations: Develop nations and cities, compete with others and earn DENA.
FunFair: A provably fair, secure, and transparent casino.
Etheroll: Sometimes, it's as simple as rolling dice. Etheroll is a provably fair dice game, with a low 1% house edge and no sign-ups or deposits.
0x Universe: 0xUniverse lets players build spaceships, explore the galaxy and colonize planets.
Lordless: A fantasy game where users recruit bounty hunters, send them on quests, and reap the rewards.
Decentraland: A virtual reality platform upon which users create, experience, and monetize content and applications.
Dragonereum: Breed dragons, destroy your enemies, trade crypto-collectibles with other players.
Moon Crypto Polis: Decentralized moon colonization strategy game.
Caesar's Triumph: A strategy conquest game to create a mega world of economic, political, and military strategy.
CryptoVoxels: An Ethereum virtual world where you can buy land, build art galleries and stores.
Aavegotchi: DeFi-enabled Crypto Collectibles powered by Aave. Collect, compete, and combine your Aavegotchis for the ultimate gamified DeFi experience.
My Crypto Heroes: Run your digital employment agency for historical heroes.
MLB Champions: Collect players and play fantasy baseball. Every game of MLB Crypto Baseball is tied to a live MLB game in real-time.
Marble Cards: Collecting internet content and measure its value. Marble any unique web page URL into a collectible card on Ethereum.
ZED: Buy, breed, sell, and racehorses on Ethereum.Tokenized Communities
Have you deleted Facebook yet? Join a Tokenized Community and enjoy the bright side of social media. Users commit tokens to enter, and for the fee, are met with a tighter vibe and 0 demographics-based slant campaigns.
$FWB - A private discord server for artists, technologists, and musicians.
$Karma - A telegram-based professional network. Earn or earn $KARMA for good actions for the community.
$JAMM - A group of individuals testing out the weird and wacky things in crypto.
$WHISKI - A community for whisky 🥃 & crypto lovers.
$WHALE - A social currency backed by tangible and NFT assets.
Social Networks
Minds: A censorship-resistant social network.
Akasha: A decentralized social network built on Ethereum.
Livepeer: Open source video infrastructure services for live video broadcasting.
Refereum: Earn rewards for playing games, watching streams, and sharing gaming content with your friends.
VouchForMe: A distributed insurance platform based on social proof built on Ethereum.