Internet Computer（ICP）: The General-purpose Blockchain for the Web3

2022-05-04, 10:10

DFINITY foundation created a decentralized internet alternative called Internet Computer (ICP) to bring back the dream of free, user-controlled internet and take users' information away from the hands of large cloud service providing companies like Amazon, Google Cloud, Alibaba, etc. The foundation has demonstrated the implementation of the decentralized internet by deploying DApps, explorers, infrastructures, DeFi, and tools that run wholely from infinite public blockchain without the need for conventional IT.

Internet computer (ICP) is a decentralized internet created by the DFINITY foundation that serves as an alternative to corporate cloud services. It is a set of codes that allows autonomous data centers to unite and offer a decentralized option to the current centralized internet.

The basic idea behind the internet computer (ICP) is to create a decentralized internet and computing system. It aims to create an alternative to the current cloud services, like Google cloud, that will run and store information on millions of computers worldwide. DFINITY's founder, Dominic Williams, said that ICP aims to take the internet back to a time when it provided an open environment for creativity and growth, a free market where services could connect on equal terms. He spoke of a restoration of the internet to its appealing age.

With Internet computer, there is no conflict of interest. On a centralized internet, disputes may arise if a cloud service firm were to host a company with services competing with its own. Still, the decentralization of the Internet computer (ICP) prevents this as no one host is a service provider.

Benefits Of Internet Computer (ICP)

Highlighting a few of the benefits of Internet computer will make it easier to explain the necessity for centralized network replacement.

It is decentralized

Safe in regards to personal information (privacy)

It creates an avenue for free speech.

Security of the blockchain applies to it.

Highlighting the difference between ICP And Centralised Networks:

The internet computer aims to offer a decentralized, censorship-free alternative to the internet as we know it. Where developers can build and host applications safely and without restrictions. While centralized networks horde customer information and monetize it. Also, certain content is restricted by cloud service providers, and free speech is minimal.

The current internet providers are the owners of various cloud server applications; if a data center were to fail, a whole portion of the web would close off with it. ICP provides a decentralized information stored system on the blockchain, such that if a data center has system failure of any kind, the blockchain remains secure.

In a centralized system, developers can be censored or have their apps de-platformed. Still, the Internet computer eliminates such limitations because there is no 'control room' from which a 'disagreeable CEO' can restrict the content hosted.

ICP Token

The ICP token is one that interacts with the blockchain, data centers, and the governance system. The tokens are stacked in neurons to gain voting power and give users a say in the governing policies of the blockchain. They are rewarded to hosts for their computing power as nodes. The time a token can be staked ranges from 6months to 8years, and the voting power of a user increases with longer stake periods. At the time of writing, the token is currently trading at $16.7 and has a current market cap of $3.75 Billion.

Source: Forbes

How Is Internet Computer Secure?

Data centers/ hosts are paid a fee in ICP tokens to run codes for app developers. Still, they don't have access to their data, which makes it impossible for advertisers to track user activity across the internet, or for the host to sell and monetize user information since they don't have it, to begin with.

Limitations Of The ICP

The ICP requires larger hardware than other blockchain projects. This is stifling to the entire concept of decentralization because if the hardware requirement is too large, only well-capitalized hosts will be able to set up data centers and participate.

In a decentralized network like the Internet computer, there is no way to place restrictions on hosts of illegal, indecent, or inappropriate content. Although, inappropriate content is considered relative and varies from person to person.

Implementations Of The Internet Computer (ICP)

DFINITY set out to implement the Internet computer and created a video sharing app, CanCan, which they nicknamed "decentralized TIKTOK'.

CanCan is a decentralized video-sharing social network platform developed by the DFINITY foundation to demonstrate the abilities of the Internet computer. The decentralized app (dApp) uses tokenization to attract audiences and users and reward users. CanCan users are rewarded with super likes, which they use to make their video go viral and can use to redeem prizes. CanCan doesn't use a web server but is composed of multiple modules called canisters.

The canisters contain data structures in the form of arrays or maps. The video bytes are sliced into chunks and stored to be retrieved and reconstituted later to form the videos displayed on a user's screen. DFINITY used a Distributed Hash Table (DHT) approach. So that the front-end canister would request a video from the back-end, which will send the data directly or request the data from its DHT peers. The front-end builds on the simple interface of the DHT to accomplish the creation of a dApp without a back-end application programming interface (API )

PORTAL is a decentralized, end-to-end streaming service built and hosted on-chain on the Internet Computer network.

Dmail is the Web3 substitute for e-mail that is entirely on-chain and built on the Internet Computer. Dmail enables users to exchange encrypted messages over the blockchain. Users also own the Dmail addresses as NFT assets - there is a native marketplace for distributing them.

Sonic is a "swap" deployed end-to-end on the Internet Computer. Sonic allows users to swap tokens, earn fees as a liquidity provider, and build upon Internet Computer's AMM. Sonic's Web3 application leverages the ICP blockchain's low fees, high scalability, and reverse-gas model to deliver an intuitive Web3 experience.

Internet computer as a successor to other decentralized internet solutions like SOLID, SAFE, and BLOCKSTACK, to mention a few. This shows that the internet can be, as John Perry Barlow described it in 1996, an independent cyberspace with an internet controlled by its users.

Although it will take a lot of effort to reinvent the internet successfully, DFINITY shows that it may be possible to create a decentralized, user-controlled, open intern with consistency and commitment.

How to Buy ICP tokens on Gate.io

You can buy ICP tokens on Gate.io by simply login into your Gate.io account and Clicking on the “Buy crypto” on the menu bar.

Chose your preferred payment method and follow the preceding instructions.

Author: Gate.io Observer: M. Olatunji
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