The table below compares ArcBlock with other services for creating decentralized blockchain applications.

Note: ArcBlock supports multiple blockchains through a proprietary Open Chain Access Protocol. Comparing ArcBlock to any other blockchain is like comparing apples with oranges.

ArcBlock

Ethereum

EOS

Consensus mechanism

Algorand, a new consensus algorithm based on MIT scientist and Turing Award Winner  Silvio Micali’s latest research.

PoW (Proof of Work). Ethereum plans to transition to a PoW/PoS combination.

DPOS (Delegated Proof of Stake)

Performance

High. ArcBlock is very efficient and performs nearly as well as the native platform itself.

Low

High

Smart Contract

Blocklet + Blockchain

EVM/Solidity

Web Assembly

Smart Contract Factory

Blocklet

Not supported

Not supported

Smart Contract Template

Blocklet

Not natively supported. While some work-arounds are available, these alternatives may create potential security issues.

Unclear

Oracle

Blocklet + Blockchain

Not natively supported by design.  Some third-party implementations are available.

Unclear

Off-chain

Blocklet

Not natively supported. Some third-party implementations are available.

Unclear

Asset, resources

Blocklet

Not natively supported

Yet to be described

Multi-chain access

Supported

N/A

N/A

Token (native)

Full token service

Basic token transfer. Customers must implement the service.

Unclear

Utility token

Full token service inherited from native token

ERC20 token built by Smart Contract. This is a “second-class” token.

Unclear

DApps protocol

HTTPS, WebSocket, DDP, MQTT (extensible)

web3

Unclear

Web application support

Unlimited support for any web technology  (Meteor, React, etc.), as well as reactive applications

Meteor

React

Mobile application support

Unlimited support for reactive applications

Third-party (Status.im)

React Native

There are also services like BlockCypher and SettleMint that provide web service APIs for blockchains. While they bear some similarity to ArcBlock, these are lighter weight services that merely make it easier to write code. While we’ve highlighted the differences below, comparing these API services to ArcBlock is similar to comparing a single set of RESTful APIs to a platform like AWS.

ArcBlock

BlockCypher

SettleMint

APIs for Blockchain

YES

YES

YES

Consensus Mechanism

YES; Algorand-based

N/A

N/A

Smart Contract

YES

NO; uses the technology the underlying chain can provide

NO; uses the technology the underlying chain can provide

Oracle

YES

NO

NO

Off-chain

YES

NO

NO

Token Service

YES

NO

NO

Client framework

YES

NO

NO