Internet Computer (ICP) - the fastest and infinitely scalable general purpose blockchain, launched by the Dfinity Foundation in May 2021. It aims to be the "computer of the world", hosting Web3 dapps, DeFi, games, NFTs, social networks, used by billions of users.
Contents:
- What is an Internet Computer (ICP)?
- Project founders
- Tokenomics of the Internet Computer (ICP)
- Popular projects in the ecosystem
What is an Internet Computer (ICP)?
The project also represents the third major blockchain innovation, along with Bitcoin and Ethereum. Today, Ethereum dominates the crypto industry. Dfinity aims to solve the scaling issues that Ethereum faces without compromising security or decentralization. The developers claim that Internet Computer can complete transactions in one to two seconds. For comparison, Bitcoin takes about 10 minutes and Ethereum takes 15 seconds (depending on the network load). Internet Computer (ICP) was launched by the Dfinity Foundation, a non-profit research organization, made up of the world's leading cryptographers and experts in distributed systems and programming languages.
Project founders
The main innovation behind the internet computer is Chain Key cryptography, which includes numerous scientific breakthroughs and countless advances in crypto-engineering.
Project advantages:
| Network system (NNS) DAO | NNS DAO - an open and decentralized algorithmic system, running an internet computer, that automatically updates the protocol, based on proposals, accepted by the community. It is constantly adding new nodes, allowing the blockchain network to scale indefinitely. |
| Low network storage costs | Decentralized storage of data in an Internet computer costs $0.46 per 1 GB per month or $5 per 1 GB per year. For the first time, the low cost of decentralized data storage via an internet computer allows entrepreneurs and developers to run Web3 dapps entirely on-chain. |
| User friendly Web3 experience | For the first time, entrepreneurs and developers can build censorship-resistant DeFi and Web3 Dapps that are decentralized end-to-end through the platform. |
The Internet Computer blockchain helps to process massive amounts of updates and transactions sequentially without sacrificing speed, security or decentralization. The ICP is capable of processing up to 250,000 requests per second at a rate of 1 second for Web3, making it 11 times faster than Solana.
Tokenomics of the Internet Computer (ICP)
$ICP is the Internet Computer's own utility token and is used in the following functions:
- ICP token holders can create "neurons" to vote on governance proposals and receive voting rewards;
- ICP tokens can be burned and converted into cycles, which are used by developers to pay for the computing and storage costs of their decentralized applications, running on the network through smart contracts.
Genesis will have over 469 million ICP tokens. The circulating supply depends on the dynamics of the market. The token is available on many leading exchanges such as: Binance, Huobi Global, Coinbase, KuCoin, Gate.io and many more. Popular internet computer price pairs include: ICP/USD, ICP/GBP, ICP/AUD, and ICP/EUR.
Popular projects in the ecosystem
According to a report from developer Electric Capital, ICP is one of the fastest growing developer ecosystems in 2021 — up to 368%. Most importantly, once the developer community agrees to the token standard, Internet Computer (ICP) based projects will soon be tokenized and listed on exchanges.
Projects in the ecosystem:
| DeFi | Next-generation decentralized exchanges like Sonic, InfinitySwap and ICPSwap are using Internet Computer's reverse gas model and 1 second transaction completion to give users zero gas fees and lightning speed for swaps, transactions and more. |
| NFT | The lead artist behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection has debuted the new NFT collection on the Internet Computer platform at Art Basel. |
In addition, PokedStudios launched a collection of Bots NFTs on IC, with the rarest bot, selling 3,000 ICP (~$172,140). IC Gallery is an interoperable 3D metaverse, mixing GameFi and DeFi, where users can play, mint and trade all of their existing NFTs through a variety of immersive 3D experiences.