The ultimate blockchain may have arrived. The internet computer! For about a month now, I have been diving into this conspicuously ignored blockchain and wow. Just wow!
Where do I even begin? If you've been into blockchains you know the merit they can provide – data on-chain is auditable, unalterable and transparent. It enables users to sign transactions without relying on a third party or centralized point of control.
But thus far, blockchains have been one-trick ponies really. There is a blockchain for purpose A, another blockchain for purpose B but it all seems reserved for the few nerds on Earth, and apart from the artificial Bitcoin hype people largely don't care about crypto. The space seems to stagnate as there is no apparent benefit to the masses.
Blockchain projects are plentiful, the claims are often glamorous but really it’s mostly all noise and hype.
Why “noise”? Platform risk!
"Noise" because you soon find out when researching the internet computer, that most of the internet is not decentralized as you may have thought. Instead, the internet runs on large computing clouds owned by a handful of companies.
You have heard of them; Google, Amazon Web Services and a few other players not only have access to most people’s data on the internet... they can also decide on a whim to turn off your website, your favorite app or even: your favorite blockchain.
You read that right!
Where I used to think that blockchains run on independent servers and cannot easily be taken down, it has become painfully apparent that most blockchains merely handle the token layer on-chain – as that is the general maximum of what they can handle in terms of computation. The rest of the computing is taking place where computing resources are cheap and available. At the large tech companies.
This in effect means that any blockchain is only as reliable as its weakest point of failure. If Amazon Web Services decides to take down a service that is computing and running on their platform – they can. You as a user have agreed to their terms and conditions without reading them. And you really have no choice if you do not want to run your own hosting infrastructure at home.
It means that if you are using a blockchain whose infrastructure depends on these big tech computation clouds, you may get rug pulled in that the blockchain simply stops working when Amazon decides so. Ouch.
But EVERYTHING on-chain? Come on, how?!
Well, I don't know how, but somebody did it!
The idea has been around for a while: Can’t we put EVERYTHING on the blockchain then? Like, not only text and tokens, but also pictures, videos, websites, apps and everything else we normally use on the internet today? And the answer was: OF COURSE NOT! That is way too much data for a blockchain to handle… how would that ever be possible? Stop kidding around!
Well, I don’t know how to tell you this but the DFINITY foundation - the engineers behind the internet computer - have done it!
Infinite scalability. WTF!
We may as well call it alien tech.
Since 2014 or so they have worked on this, and since 2021 the internet computer is a thing: A place where users can store, compute and manage their own data, apps and other cloud functions and integrate them into the existing internet without ever leaving the blockchain or relying on large tech behemoth monopolies to host their stuff!
It wouldn’t be a shock if this was merely a vague notion or developer's fantasy. But the thing is: It is up and running and has been for three years now. You can go to www.internetcomputer.org and start using it TODAY.
ICP is growing by leaps and bounds and while the information embargo holds up it has mostly been kept quiet. If this is all news to you you may be wondering how on Earth this could have escaped you... Nobody is talking about it, except for a handful of small channels.
Seems like we are in drastic accumulation phase where some people would like this to stay quiet while the market is continuously manipulated down on perpetuals until everybody who may at one point heard about it simply forgets this thing even exists...
Mothership of blockchain
While ICP is conspicuously ignored in the AI and the blockchain community at large, the people that have started to get into the awe-inspiring depth of the project seldom want to leave again, nevermind sell their tokens. Talk about HODL! Jesus! I haven't seen this many maxis since the 20K BTC bullrun.
The prospects this tech offers are hard to overstate. The tech is by far the most advanced in the entirety of the crypto world and the blockchain space, and if the project keeps growing the way it has been, it will not only make most other blockchains completely obsolete but turn most of the current internet upside down and inside out within the next decade or so.
Rather than solving for a single use case, the internet computer provides a novel architecture for running the internet itself, and with it, everything on the internet.
What Bitcoin did for decentralizing monetary transactions, ICP is doing for the internet as a whole. It's just that nobody is supposed to know or use this thing yet.
Not your keys, not your bitcoin data
What this means for the internet and the resulting implications for the future of humanity is simply enormous and - quite frankly – a bit spooky!
It means that users can not only host their data on their own private, anonymous, decentralized and programmable cloud, but that that data is cryptographically secured against tampering and outside manipulation. It means that you no longer have to rely on AI models trained on biased and manipulative data or by dodgy big tech companies.
It can now instead be trained by you or people you trust, on the data you prefer. An AI that will always be exactly how you left it, where no updates can be pushed by google or openAI and where all inputs and outputs of the AI can be audited directly on-chain. Since smart contracts (“canisters”) on ICP run completely isolated from one another and are fully programmable by the individual user ONLY – it means that for the first time a user can trust that his AI model has not been manipulated, updated or tampered with by a third party.
It also means that as long as you keep your login information secure – much like on Hive – there is no possibility for your account to be broken into (provided the blockchain isn't decrypted or your computer hacked). If there ever is unauthorized access – you will know because it’s all on-chain and visible.
Data goldmine
But it goes further!
Since canisters are fully programmable by the end user, the user can decide to keep or sell their data, and if so to whom. It would effectively end the passive data collection and selling to third parties of companies like fakebook and google, because now the canister will only give out what you allow it to give out. The architecture of ICP makes possible a fully sovereign data cloud that can seamlessly integrate with other clouds or even other blockchains. Natively.
The native Bitcoin integration has been achieved, other chains like Eth and Solana will follow. This means that smart contracts on ICP can manage computations for other blockchains. You could - for instance – link native Bitcoin addresses to a decentralized exchange running on ICP and ICP would do the heavy computation the grandmotherly Bitcoin network could never achieve on its own.
DFINITY have called this blockchain singularity - a network that no longer requires oracles or bridges but that seamlessly integrates blockchains, the internet and web applications into a decentralized system architecture.
Yes but… what?!
I know, it’s all a bit much! But it doesn’t end there either!
ICP does not use a gas fee model like Ethereum or most other blockchains.
On ICP developers and app creators pay for the computation – for which ICP is burned. This means that anybody on Earth could visit a website or download an application and not even realize they are using the internet computer. To them it just looks like a regular website or app.
Because ICP is a giant blockchain, it means that tokenomics and governance are a huge factor to consider.
Growing up with companies doing everything, we can now see a world where everything is democratized radically. On ICP, a startup could create a project – say a social network like Hive – and over time the project would leave their hands and become governed by a DAO, i.e. the community itself. The community would then decide how to change or maintain the app or website, rather like people on Hive vote for proposals and block producers.
A future is now thinkable where communities own their project or software, and not some CEO of a large company.
Tokenomics
As is common with blockchains these days, ICP hosts a multitude of projects with their own project tokens.
You can do on-chain swaps. Use chat apps. There are social media apps being built, there are on-chain dexes with orderbooks, a physical gold trading platform, all sorts of future contenders to the current market leaders in their fields and so much more. It’s all still very small and under the radar but it is expanding every day.
People who see the potential are in it for the long haul, and incidentally you get about 13% APR from staking your tokens for the maximum duration.
But won't that become hugely inflationary? Well, it seems DFINITY has put a lot of thought into their tokenomics model. As mentioned, any computation on the ICP network effectively burns ICP. The more the internet computer is used by people, the more tokens are burned. There are currently more than 500 million ICP in existence of which more than 40% of are locked in staking with various unstaking periods.
There have been short durations where the chain became deflationary, and even with the high APR from staking it is very feasible to see it become deflationary in the long run putting further buying pressure on the price as ICP becomes more and more rare. Or that at least is what ICP holders are hoping for.
It’s sort of like Bitcoin…
...only Bitcoin does not pay you 13% APR for staking it, nor can you spend Satoshis for hosting your own website on-chain, having AI build you an android app or kickstart an heirloom seed store that accepts stablecoins or various cryptos natively. On ICP that is all a given, and it is only a matter of time until this thing will utterly eat the rest of IT and web 2.
Is it all fine and dandy then?
I have been asking myself where the catch is with ICP for a good 3 weeks now, and though I have collected a few good arguments against it, I would really like a more grounded counter-narrative. If you were to ask me 5 weeks ago now I'd say it's just too good to be true, but I have been using it, and it works like a charm.
I will make a follow-up post with the issues I see with ICP and I would GREATLY welcome your ideas and feedback on that.
But: since there is an absolute information embargo on ICP in the cryptosphere on youtube and in the AI world, (and hardly ANYTHING I could find here on Hive either!)… and since I am still hoping for a major upside in the DXY and an ensuing major crash in crypto and the stock market, there may be a golden opportunity to get in should you be so interested.
At least, it’s a great opportunity now to research this blockchain project for people interested in real paradigm-shattering technology and the connected innovations and solutions this tech can provide. And isn’t that tech innovation the reason most of us are here on Hive and not on mainstream platforms?
I will leave you with a few videos I found helpful to understand ICP a bit better if you are new.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=xXpOLo4eNds
I'm super curious, have you ever heard of ICP?
And if so, what do you make of it? Will it eat the whole internet, bitcoin and all other cryptos for breakfast, or is it all too good to be true?
unsplash.com
startuptalky.com
unsplash.com
unsplash.com
unsplash.com
dashboard.internetcomputer.org
Isn't that some very old project with only marketing Blabla?
Can you show us some examples. Of sites. Apps. Infrastructure on ICP ?
i should make a follow up post, cheers for the hint!
icpswap is fully on-chain and allows for swapping of btc, eth, icp, and a few others to stablecoins, without any bridges involved. you can even set limit orders and earn the fees for providing liquidity rather than paying fees. it works great!
app.icpswap.com
openchat is a fully onchain messenger like telegram, with fully embedded wallet functionality. effectively meaning you can send ttansactions on-chain through your messaging app without any third parties.
oc.app
helixmarkets is an on-chain dex and trading platform that looks super promising. unfortunately there is hardly any trading volume yet until enough people had enough of the CEX hacks.
gold-dao.org is a physical gold trading platform that uses NFTs to equate to actual gold backing. it's so freakin' novel i have yet to get to the bottom of it.
many developers are building onchain, but it's all still super early and feels a bit vacant. much like on hive actually ahahha.
the potential is just mindblowing to me right now. let me know if you find the catch yeah?
To get past the information embargo, pretend to be talking about Insane Clown Posse, using lots of Shaggy 2 Dope pics and video for Tubeyou's delectation.
Thanks!
you seriously make me look worldly shit up in the morning? *sigh. i have no idea what any of that comment means so i got to.
now i do. and i lol'ed. ahahhaha.
these acronyms... i never bothered to look but now you got me curious what wikipedia and shmoogle will spit out. cheers.
i could say much to the information embago but i feel i have spammed you enough this week.
thanks for stopping by and opting for lightheartedness man!
This sounds exciting. Never heard of it, but now I'm curious to find out more.
i felt the same way.please let me know if you find a catch i overlooked ;)
LOL did I hear... Yes I did.
And they slowed down for sometime but seem to be picking up the pieces and moving forward the idea is great but what is realized seems to be a bit premature...but the vision is there
the price action is such a turn-off for people. but as DFINITY has said, they are aiming for the longterm mission.
thanks
You almost 100% described Hive above.
VSC is a modularised LII smart contract system that scales.
Breakaway Communities allows you to run your own server and URL and run your own platform on top of that.
SPK Network allows you to be rewarded for storing other peoples content and it allows you to pay other people to store your content. The Selling of user purchase data for example is being handled by @theDistriator, and incentivisation of action using hive will only grow such user controlled data
IMO, the vision you outline above for ICP is also similar to the vision for Hive too. Its all being built on Hive and much of the tools are now in place.
Also, im not sure, but im assuming, as with 99% of other crypto projects, ICP has a huge pre-mine. (I might be wrong tho).
Well, that is good to hear, I really like Hive despite its challenges.
What is not so clear to me is where all that data is computed, how much of it is really hosted on-chain and how much is happening in web 2 hosting clouds that can be turned off on a whim?
Finding out that most blockchains pretend to have stuff "built on them" while it's all actually computed by AWS was really a bummer ahahah. And also liberating.
As for the pre-mine, ICP had an ICO that went for like 50 cent or something like that. So those people are up 10x despite the constant downward price manipulation on derivative markets.
There is reasonable criticism against DFINITY, holding about 22% of the tokens right now. Effectively, since they have such a large following they can single handedly decide for or against any proposal. That however is being tackled with non system level approaches they are working on, as this would present an eventual bottleneck as ICP scales.
As on Hive, the more people delegate their "witness" and proposal voting, the less DEcentralized a network becomes. Gotta make our own decisions ;)
Many ICP stats are on the dashboard
https://dashboard.internetcomputer.org/
There are also other sites on ICP that show further detail such as ICP token distribution across the network, voting power distribution, and governance voting trails, but I would have to find those URLs again as I did not save them. As I said, I am fairly new to this myself
thanks for your thoughts!
Im only pro zero pre mine projects when it comes to LI. if there was a pre mine, there is misalignment between the founders and the users who will be used as exit liquidity because of the pre mine.
We will just drop them all a social token on hive and not drop the pre mine holders.
Hive has no pre mine. so IMO ICP is not "as on Hive at all". Everyone needs to add value here to earn, either by buying off the open market, using the protocol to spend or making content about actions that benefit the community.
do you know how large the steem-premine was?
there is also still the open question about the usefulness of DHFs and the quasi centralization of large accounts that were not barred from carrying over to hive.
i would really have to find out more on icp to answer those questions, but that input of yours is highly appreciated, thanks
Do you know that the Steem pre mine was nulled when it forked to Hive and the community left steem to go to hive for this reason?
I thought the DHF fund of Hive is the portion of the stake that was formerly the Steem premine? Am I wrong?
partly. it is topped up by 10% of the newly minted hive. But it is not in the hands of one centralized, regulatable company. community votes on what happens to the funds, so its decnetrlaised and is not being used as an exit by a central company, and it is not using new hive users as exit liquidity.