Internet Computer PriceICP

Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) is much more than just a cryptocurrency, unlike many other projects in the cryptocurrency space. The ICP coin, available for purchase and trading on platforms like Coinbase, is actually a subset of a much larger concept.

As an alternative to cloud services provided by companies like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, the core concept behind ICP is to establish a new global computing system and a decentralized internet. This would include autonomous data centers located around the world that together form a single network. The goal of ICP's protocol is to be installed on millions of computers globally.

The creators of ICP claim that, compared to centralized solutions, the resulting network offers several important advantages. One advantage is that it uses open standards for operations, which prevents large cloud providers from dealing with potential conflicts of interest when hosting competing products.

With its network of worldwide and decentralized data centers, ICP (formerly DFINITY) is capable of running any application that can be accessed through traditional internet protocols, such as DNS (the domain name system used on your phone or computer).

The ICP token serves several purposes: first, as payment for network transactions; second, as a reward for participating data centers for good behavior; and third, as a governance token, which allows holders to "lock" a portion of their ICP in the network in exchange for a voice in the future development of the protocol.

What is the ICP token?

In May 2018, DFINITY announced its plan to distribute DFINITY tokens worth 35 million Swiss francs in an airdrop to community members to promote "Cloud 3.0" and help them become early users. DFINITY launched its alpha mainnet on December 18, 2018. The Internet Computer is currently supported by 48 independent data centers across North America, Europe, and Asia, with a total of 1,300 nodes. It is estimated that the network will grow rapidly to support next-generation large-scale DApps.

At genesis (the beginning), there are up to 469,213,710 ICP tokens, and the circulating supply depends on market dynamics. At the time of creation, it was estimated that 23.86% of tokens were held by the DFINITY Foundation, 18% by Internet Computer team members, 24.72% by seed investors, 9.5% by early contributors, and the rest were distributed to other tiers of investors and strategic partners.

How does ICP work?

Nowadays, the internet is highly centralized. Many of the most widely used web apps are proprietary, closed-source, and hosted by a few data centers controlled by large technology companies. Additionally, a major data center failure can bring down large portions of the web simultaneously. The power of centralized, corporate web service providers to restrict or deplatform programs is another major concern, especially for privacy advocates.

Thanks to the Internet Computer, websites can be launched directly on the public internet, aiming to provide a fundamental alternative for developers by facilitating a more decentralized approach to application development, hosting, and serving. Open-source and transparent software development will be encouraged by the Internet Computer.

If the Internet Computer were described in an MIT Technology Review profile, it would "move between servers owned by independent data centers around the world," rather than "running on a dedicated server in Google Cloud," for example.

Think of ICP as a means of exchanging cryptocurrency for computing power; the network would set a price according to the amount of processing power a developer's project requires. Once the cost is paid, the website will be able to reach the public internet.

From social networks like LinkedIn and TikTok to all the apps you know and love, and to entirely new apps that haven't even been thought of yet, the internet makes it possible to create and run any kind of program. The CanCan project, which the ICP team calls a "decentralized TikTok," has its source code publicly available as a proof of concept.

What threats might the Internet Computer face?

By limiting the number of potential participants, the decentralization ethos of the Internet Computer may be threatened by the need for more powerful hardware compared to other blockchain initiatives. If hardware requirements are too high, only large, well-funded companies will be able to build data centers and participate.

Furthermore, who is responsible for hosting objectionable content on a fully decentralized network? Today's internet companies use some form of moderation, but they also have the power to remove users from the platform at any time. Ideally, solutions that enable decentralized governance to regulate these challenging issues can be developed by the Internet Computer (and other crypto protocols).

Besides the Internet Computer, several protocols are trying to reimagine the internet. Other potential rivals include MIT's Solid (developed by web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee) and IPFS/Filecoin.