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Internet Computer (DFINITY)

the first World Computer blockchain

institute type

ecosystem

market cap

organization details

Mission & Key Concepts

The Internet Computer is the fastest and only infinitely scalable general-purpose blockchain

We aim to create a "blockchain singularity" in which every system and service is rebuilt and reimagined using smart contracts and runs entirely from infinite public blockchain without need for traditional IT.

Our mission is to develop and contribute technology that enables the Internet Computer (IC) blockchain and its ecosystem. It is powered by new "chain key cryptography" that allows it to run at web speed with efficiency that is many orders of magnitude improved, for smart contracts to serve web directly to end users, and for on-chain compute to scale without bound - allowing mass market web3 services to run entirely on-chain, and for blockchain to become an alternative to traditional IT, such as cloud services.

The IC is governed and updated by the Network Nervous System (NNS), a protocol-integrated DAO that decides using liquid democracy. Supporting the mission are more than 200 world-renowned scientists and engineers specializing in cryptography, distributed systems, execution environments, language programing and more.

Culture & Current Challenges

A team of over 200 world-renowned cryptographers, distributed systems engineers, and programming language experts have taken on the massive technological challenge of building, maintaining, and continuously improving a ‘world computer’ powerful enough to host Web3 dApps, DeFi, games, NFTs, social media, and metaverse projects.

The Internet Computer makes it possible to escape the web2 dilemma of users being monetized by the services they use. Instead, with ICP dapps, users become the owners of the services and decide on how their services should evolve. This is made possible through a new form of on-chain governance for online services that are running 100% on chain, for the very first time.

There is no need for centralized traditional IT, such as cloud services, which otherwise have to be used in Web3. Since all code and data is fully decentralized, community DAOs can control services in a completely decentralized way. No companies, boards of directors, or CEOs required.

History & Achievements

The Internet Computer was incubated and launched by the DFINITY Foundation in May 2021.

DFINITY was founded in 2016 by entrepreneur and crypto theoretician, Dominic Williams, and attracted interest and financial contributions from early members of the Ethereum community. Later, top-tier institutions such as Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain Capital, and SV Angel backed the Internet Computer in a collective effort to help build out Web3.

Dfinity Foundation is a Swiss-based not-for-profit organization with the largest R&D team in blockchain.

The DFINITY Foundation operates globally with research centers in Zurich and San Francisco as well as team members working remotely across North America, Europe and Asia.

Milestones

- Over 1.4 Billion blocks processed. 10x more than the nearest competitor.

- On-chain efficiency comparison: Relative cost of storing data inside smart contracts measured in USD.

  • Ethereum: $79,000,000 / GB
  • Solana: $110,000 / GB
  • Internet Computer: $5 / GB per year

- Blockchain's largest R&D operation:

  • 270+ team members
  • 1564 publications
  • 86,347 citations
  • 191 patents

Core Team

  • Dominic Williams - Founder & Chief Scientist
  • Josh Drake - Chief Operating Officer
  • Jan Camenisch - Chief Technology Officer