Experiences designing a multi-tier architecture for a decentralized blockchain application in the energy domain

In recent years the emergence of the Ethereum Blockchain has introduced a new alternative perspective on how web applications can be build. More precisely, the Ethereum Blockchain allows the development of applications, where programming code can be executed in a decentralized manner with no restrictions imposed by a central authority. However, as it is the case with many emerging technologies, there is a fair amount of trade-offs that have to be considered when this technology is used as a platform for implementing decentralized applications. In this work we present two architectural designs for building decentralized applications (DApps) based on the Ethereum Blockchain technology. Within this context, we discuss the inherent strengths and weaknesses of each of the architectural designs as well as the set of challenges that we faced during the development process.