Internet Computer Protocol (ICP)
The Internet Computer adds autonomous serverless cloud functionality to the public Internet – making it possible to build almost any system or service entirely on a decentralized network using “canister software,” an evolution of smart contracts.
History of ICP
The history of the Internet Computer traces back to 2013 when DFINITY Foundation founder Dominic Williams, inspired by the growth of the Bitcoin network, transitioned to working full-time in blockchain. His initial focus was on building faster blockchains to support virtual goods trading in computer games. In 2014, he worked on a blockchain project called “Pebble,” which introduced novel approaches to blockchain design but was not pursued.
In 2016, Dominic co-founded the DFINITY Foundation, aiming to create a neutral not-for-profit organization for developing a World Computer blockchain protocol. The foundation raised funds through a seed donation in February 2017, leading to the creation of the ICP token ledger on the Ethereum network.
DFINITY Foundation expanded its operations, attracting notable hires, and by October 2017, demonstrated an initial version of its test network, showcasing innovations like Threshold Relay and Probabilistic Slot Consensus. In 2018, the foundation raised over a hundred million dollars in fundraising rounds, enabling it to scale its operations.
Despite facing attacks and disruption at launch, the Internet Computer community grew rapidly. Thousands of developers are building on the network, and projects run entirely from the blockchain without relying on traditional IT. The community aims to build a new web3 internet ecosystem and transition online systems and services onto the Internet Computer, envisioning a blockchain singularity.
How is the Internet Computer created by a protocol?
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Node providers
Standardized hardware devices called node machines are run by independent parties called node providers, from different data centers, geographies, and jurisdictions around the world. Node providers run their hardware to earn tokenized rewards, rather like independent ISPs and backbone providers operate routing devices to earn peering fees
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Subnet blockchains
The ICP (Internet Computer Protocol) efficiently merges node machines into subnet blockchains, enhancing capacity for hosting secure canisters. The Internet Computer incorporates a permissionless automated governance system known as the Network Nervous System, responsible for instructing nodes to join or exit subnets.
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Canister smart contracts
Smart contracts, a novel software form, operate on blockchain networks, ensuring tamperproof and unstoppable execution while offering optional autonomy. These contracts can process tokens and are easily composed. Canisters represent a high-performance form of smart contracts with versatile applications, interacting with HTTP to serve user experiences, engaging with Web2, and natively interfacing with external blockchains. The scalability of canisters allows the operation of complex systems like social networks or enterprise platforms on the network, streamlining development and envisioning a future without firewalls and trust issues. This decentralized approach presents a compelling alternative to building on traditional centralized IT systems.
Core of ICP
The Internet Computer is created by the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), from which its utility token, the ICP token, derives its name. The core part of the IC protocol, the core IC protocol, is a 4-layer protocol that is running on the nodes of each subnet. By running the core IC protocol, the nodes of a subnet realize a blockchain-based replicated state machine that makes progress independently of the other subnets (but communicates asynchronously with them). This architecture of many concurrently-operating subnets enables the IC to scale practically without limits. Subnets process messages, which are submitted by users or come from other subnets.
The core IC protocol comprises the following four layers, from bottom to top:
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Peer-to-peer
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Consensus
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Message routing
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Execution
The lower two layers, P2P and consensus, together implement a selection and ordering of incoming messages and provide messages to the upper two layers in the form of blocks. The upper two layers, message routing and execution, receive blocks containing ordered messages from the lower part of the stack and execute them in a completely deterministic manner on every node of the subnet. This realizes a replicated state machine, where every node in the subnet transitions from the same starting state to the same ending state in every round (it must be ensured that every node executes the same messages in the same order, i.e., fully deterministically).
Powers computation, staking, voting, governance & ownership.
The ICP token plays a number of roles on the Internet Computer. Firstly, as a governance token, it can be staked to exercise those governance rights. As a utility token, it can be burned to obtain ‘cycles‘ which serves as gas for computation and storage in canister smart contracts. It can also be minted to reward ‘node machine‘ providers for providing that compute and storage.
In addition to these core uses, ICP tokens can be used to participate in decentralisation swaps to become a co-owner of an SNS DAO, and when using many smart contract services built on the Internet Computer such as registries, marketplaces and exchanges.
The ICP token implements the ICRC-1 standard.
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ref:
https://internetcomputer.org/icp-tokens