What is Internet Computer (ICP)?
The Internet Computer is creating a decentralized internet — with independent data centers providing alternative to corporate cloud services
Definition
Internet Computer (ICP) is a set of protocols that allow
independent data centers around the world to band together and offer a
decentralized alternative to the current centralized internet cloud providers.
The ICP token is used for governance (holders can vote on the future of the
network), to reward network participants for good behavior, and is used to pay
fees for making transactions.
Like a lot of projects in the cryptocurrency space,
the Internet Computer Protocol (or ICP) is much more than a form of digital
money. In fact, the ICP token that can be purchased and traded via exchanges
like Coinbase is just one part of a much bigger idea.
ICP’s basic idea is to create a new kind of
decentralized internet and global computing system — where independent
data centers all over the world could join together to create an alternative to
the cloud services (from companies like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud)
that power most of the current internet. ICP’s plan is to have the protocol
running on millions of computers around the world.
ICP developers say the resulting network has some key
advantages over the centralized alternatives. For one, it operates via open
standards and avoids the conflicts of interest that can arise when a major
cloud-computing provider hosts products that compete with its own services.
Originally called DFINITY, ICP’s global and
distributed network of data centers can run all of the applications that are
accessible via traditional Internet standards such as DNS (the domain name
system you use via web browsers and smartphones).
The ICP token has several major uses: it acts as a
governance token (allowing holders to “lock” some of their ICP into the network
in exchange for having a say in the future development of the ICP protocol), is
rewarded by the network to participating data centers for good behavior, and is
used to pay transaction fees on the network.
How does ICP work?
The Internet today is highly centralized. Popular
applications on the web are often closed-source, proprietary, and are hosted on
a handful of data centers owned by big tech firms. And if one critical data
center fails, huge swathes of the web can also shut down with it. Another major
concern (particularly for privacy advocates) is that centralized, corporate
web-services providers have the ability to censor or deplatform
applications.
The Internet Computer attempts to offer a fundamental
alternative so that developers can build, host, and serve applications in a
more decentralized way — allowing websites to be deployed directly onto
the public internet. Further, the Internet Computer would incentivize open
source and transparent software development.
As explained in the MIT Technology Review’s profile of the Internet Computer:
“Instead of running on a dedicated server in Google Cloud, for example, the
software would have no fixed physical address, moving between servers owned by
independent data centers around the world.”
One way you can think of ICP is as a way of converting
crypto into processing power — the network will establish a fee based on the
amount of computing power required by a developer’s project. As long as the fee
is paid, the website will run on the public internet.
In theory, any kind of application can be created and
run on the Internet Computer — from social networks similar to LinkedIn and
TikTok to software similar to all the familiar applications you know today to
new kinds of applications not yet conceived. As a demonstration, ICP developers
have published open source code for CanCan, which they describe as a “decentralized TikTok.”
What risks might the Internet Computer
face?
Participating in the Internet Computer may require
more robust hardware than traditional blockchain projects, potentially
threatening its ethos of decentralization by limiting the number of potential
participants. If the hardware requirements are too large, only large and
well-capitalized players would be able to set up data centers and
participate.
Further, in a truly decentralized network, who can be
held accountable for hosting abusive content? Corporations running the Internet
today employ some degree of moderation, although the flip side is that they can
also arbitrarily de-platform anyone at any time. Ideally, Internet Computer
(and other crypto protocols) can create solutions that allow decentralized
governance to moderate these difficult questions.
Internet Computer isn’t the only protocol aiming to
reinvent the Internet. Other potential competitors include IPFS/Filecoin and MIT’s Solid (which was
created by web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee).
Who originally developed the Internet
Computer?
The Internet Computer is built by the DFINITY
Foundation and was started by a developer named Dominic Williams in 2016. The
DFINITY Foundation is a nonprofit organization devoted to researching and
developing the Internet Computer — after years of research, it officially
launched in May 2021. Researchers all over the world contribute to the
foundations’ work — including cryptographers that hold around 100,000
academic citations and 200 patents.
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