The internet is one of the most powerful inventions of humanity, enabling unprecedented levels of communication, information, and innovation. However, the current internet is also plagued by many problems, such as centralization, censorship, privacy breaches, security vulnerabilities, and inefficiencies.
What if there was a way to create a new internet that is more open, secure, scalable, and democratic? That is the vision of the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), 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.
What is ICP?
ICP is a blockchain-based network that can host programs and data in the form of smart contracts, perform computations on smart contracts in a secure and trustworthy way, and scale infinitely. Smart contracts on ICP are called canister smart contracts, or canisters, each consisting of a bundle of WebAssembly (Wasm) bytecode and smart contract data storage. Each canister has its own, isolated, data storage that is only changed when the canister executes code.
Canisters are hosted on subnets, the top-level architectural building block of ICP. A subnet is an independent blockchain, running on node machines, or nodes, deployed in globally-distributed data centers. A single subnet can securely host tens of thousands of canister smart contracts, totalling in hundreds of gigabytes of memory – there are currently dozens of subnets, growing to thousands in the future.
For each canister hosted on a subnet, its code and data is stored on every node in the subnet, and its code is executed by every node in the subnet. This replication of storage and computation is essential to achieve fault tolerance, so that canister smart contracts will continue to execute even if some nodes in the subnet are faulty (either because they crash, or even worse, are hacked by a malicious party). This replication is powered by the core ICP, which implements a high-throughput, low-latency consensus mechanism and an efficient virtual machine for WebAssembly execution, backed by a blockchain.
The IC’s multi-subnet architecture is much more powerful than the well-known sharding approach because it enables smart contracts on different subnets to communicate with each other seamlessly – much like services in a traditional microservices architecture, but fully on chain. Canisters communicate via asynchronous messages, i.e., they don’t block on sending a message, but process the response when it eventually arrives. This novel approach to inter-canister calls allows for scaling out ICP by simply adding more subnets.
The core ICP makes heavy use of chain-key cryptography, a toolbox of advanced cryptographic protocols (based on threshold cryptography) that enables the decentralized operation of ICP with unprecedented scalability. Chain-key cryptography also includes a sophisticated collection of technologies for robustly and securely addressing operational concerns, such as how to deal with faulty nodes or protocol upgrades, which we call chain-evolution technology (for example, enabling nodes to easily join a subnet without validating every block beginning from the genesis block, as in other blockchains).
What are the benefits of ICP?
ICP offers many benefits for developers, users, and society at large, such as:
Openness: Anyone can create and deploy canister smart contracts on ICP, without needing permission from any centralized authority or intermediary. Anyone can also access and use the services provided by canister smart contracts, without needing to trust or rely on any third-party platform or provider. ICP is designed to be an open and public network that belongs to everyone.
Security: Canister smart contracts are protected by the security and reliability of the ICP network, which ensures that they run exactly as programmed, without any interference or tampering. Canister smart contracts can also leverage the built-in features of ICP, such as identity, authentication, and encryption, to provide secure and private services to their users.
Scalability: ICP can scale to support any number of canister smart contracts and any amount of computation and data, without compromising on performance or security. ICP achieves this by dynamically adding more subnets and nodes to the network, as well as by optimizing the resource allocation and load balancing of canister smart contracts across subnets.
Democracy: ICP is governed by a decentralized and transparent process, where anyone who holds the native token of the network, called Internet Computer (ICP), can participate in the decision-making and evolution of the network. ICP holders can vote on proposals that affect the network, such as adding new subnets, upgrading the protocol, or changing the network parameters. ICP holders can also delegate their voting power to neurons, which are smart contracts that follow the voting behavior of other neurons or experts.
What are the use cases of ICP?
ICP can enable a wide range of use cases that are currently impossible or impractical on the traditional internet, such as:
Decentralized applications (DApps): ICP can host DApps that run entirely on the blockchain, without needing any centralized servers, databases, or APIs. DApps can offer users more control, privacy, and ownership of their data and assets, as well as more transparency and fairness in their interactions. Examples of DApps that can run on ICP include social media, messaging, gaming, e-commerce, finance, and more.
Decentralized web services (DWS): ICP can host DWS that provide web services to other canister smart contracts or external applications, without needing any centralized cloud providers or intermediaries. DWS can offer developers more flexibility, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in building and deploying their applications, as well as more interoperability and composability with other DWS. Examples of DWS that can run on ICP include storage, computation, analytics, identity, authentication, encryption, and more.
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs): ICP can host DAOs that are self-governing and self-sustaining organizations that run on the blockchain, without needing any human intervention or supervision. DAOs can offer participants more collaboration, coordination, and innovation in pursuing their common goals and interests, as well as more accountability and incentive alignment in their actions. Examples of DAOs that can run on ICP include communities, networks, platforms, protocols, and more.
How to get started with ICP?
If you are interested in learning more about ICP, or want to start building and deploying your own canister smart contracts on ICP, here are some resources that can help you:
Internet Computer website: The official website of ICP, where you can find more information about the vision, features, benefits, and use cases of ICP, as well as the latest news and events related to ICP.
Internet Computer documentation: The official documentation of ICP, where you can find more details about the architecture, technology, and governance of ICP, as well as tutorials, guides, and references for developing and deploying canister smart contracts on ICP.
Internet Computer token (ICP): The official page of ICP on Coinbase, where you can buy, sell, and store ICP, as well as learn more about the utility and value of ICP.
ICP is a revolutionary project that aims to transform the internet with blockchain, and create a more open, secure, scalable, and democratic internet for everyone. If you are passionate about the future of the internet, and want to be part of this exciting journey, join the ICP community today and start exploring the possibilities of ICP.
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