Platform (Crypto)

In crypto, a platform is usually a blockchain designed as a foundation for other people's software, rather than mainly as a form of money. Ethereum, Solana and Cardano are often called smart contract platforms because developers deploy decentralised applications and issue their own tokens on them, paying fees in the platform's native coin. This is the basis of a common distinction between "coins", which run on their own chain, and "tokens", which are issued on someone else's platform, and data sites sometimes group assets under a "platform" category. The word is also used more loosely for any service where users trade, lend or play, such as an exchange or a GameFi site, so its meaning depends on context. Calling a project a platform does not imply that many applications actually use it. Also see layer-1 blockchain.