XinPay: A simple way to use XinFin Hybrid Blockchain

XinPay is a bridge that allows you to visit the distributed web of tomorrow in your browser today. It allows you to run any dApps right in your browser without running a full XinFin Node.

However, to understand what this statement really means, you need to first understand what each of these words means. I mean what is “distributed web” and what really is “distributed web of tomorrow”?. What is XinFin dApp and a XinFin Node? This article will try to briefly demystify each of these words and introduce a tool called XinPay, which will let you really explore the distributed web of tomorrow.,

First of all, let us start by identifying what distributed web is. Most of the things you see on your browser (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, or Opera.), including this article, comes from a computer that sits in a chilled room within a large data center somewhere. Many little computers and phones, which we often call clients, connect to the large central server to download bits of information that they need. This is how the modern web works. We call this the Centralized Web, because, you guessed it, all the data sits somewhere in a central location. However, some groups of people thought that having one large entity that stores, manages, and even owns data is not very comfortable and often not safe. Instead, people decided to build a network where everyone can own and share a bit of data with everyone else in the network. So, instead of computers and phones connecting to a single server to download bits of information they need, they connect to many people who own smaller bits of information they need. And once they receive the information, they also begin to share it with others who need the same information. We call this the Distributed Web.

There have been many famous applications of distributed web. The two most well-known examples are Napster and Torrent. Napster is a distributed web specifically built to share songs between its users. It has no central server that stores the songs, and users download and upload songs that they want and that they own. Similarly, Torrent is a distributed web specifically built to share all types of files between its users.

Blockchain essentially is a distributed web, similar to Napster or Torrent, built to serve a different purpose. Blockchain is not a coin or some currency. It actually is a distributed web to log, store, and share secure, verified, and unmodifiable transactions. These transactions can include any type of action between two entities. For example, in the case of bitcoin, transferring bitcoin between user A and user B can be stored in a blockchain. As you can see blockchain can store and share any type of data that needs security. Bitcoin is basically one application of blockchain technology.

XinFin Hybrid Blockchain is a type of blockchain that is built for applications that need to store data or run programs in the distributed web. It is the “distributed web of tomorrow”. Unlike bitcoin, Napster, or Torrent, it can actually store data in the form of a computer program called a smart contract. Computer owners can be part of the XinFin network, obtain and share the smart contract and receive a reward (XDC) for running the smart contract. Once your computer is part of the XinFin Networkunning smart contracts and sharing it with others, it is now a XinFin Node.

XinFin allows programmers to write apps that can run on many people’s computers. Such type of apps is called dApps, which stands for distributed applications. dApps are being built as we speak and it is slowly gaining more traction. So, we will soon find out what type of applications are a perfect fit as dApps

Now, let’s get back to XinPay

XinPay is a browser extension that lets you run dApps without being part of the XinFin Network as a XinFin Node Instead, it lets you connect to XinFin Node and run smart contracts on that Node.XinPay manages your XinFin wallet which contains your (XDC) and allows you to send and receive XDC through a dApp of interest. It is a pretty neat tool.

How to Install XinPay?

Link to install XinPay:- https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/xinpay/bocpokimicclpaiekenaeelehdjllofo?hl=en

XinPay is a simple browser extension that can run on many browsers. To install, you first visit XinPay d install the browser extension Once installed, you see a Xinfin logo on the right top of your browser. Once you click on it, you can now accept their terms of use as seen below.

Now you can create a new XinFin account to send and receive XDC and also to run dApps. After creating an account, you get a list of 12 words that can be used to retrieve your account when you forget your password. MAKE SURE to save this somewhere SAFE where no one can see.

Now you have your own XinFin Wallet You can use the main network, which will use real XDC that cost REAL money, or try some dApps out on Apothem Test Network.

Let’s select Apothem Test Network and visit https://faucet.apothem.network/ This site will give you free XDC to use on Apothem Test Network After clicking on get 1000 XDC you will find that your account now has 1000 XDC to use for any dApps! (Again, this is not real XDC, think of it as monopoly money.)

Now you can use this to run dApps that exist online. You can search for dApps for the latest list of dApps to test. Once you feel pretty comfortable with dApps, you can then start running dApps on the main Ethereum network. You should be VERY VERY careful that you are now spending real XDC.

I hope you now have a brief understanding of what distributed web, blockchain, XinFin Hybrid Blockchain, and dApps are and how you can play around with them using XinPay. Feel free to explore the large space of dApps and have fun, but most importantly be safe and responsible!

(Please feel free to ping me for corrections, questions, or general comments! Like and Share the article if you are impressed. )