Internet Computer (ICP) is 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. The ICP token is used for governance (holders can vote on the future of the network), to reward network participants for good behavior, and to pay fees for making transactions.

Like a lot of projects in the cryptocurrency space, the Internet Computer Protocol is much more than a form of digital currency. In fact, the ICP token is just one part of a much bigger idea. ICP’s basic idea is to create a new kind of decentralized internet and global computing system — where independent data centers all over the world could join together to create an alternative to the cloud services (from companies like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud) that power most of the current internet. ICP’s plan is to have the protocol running on millions of computers around the world. 

ICP developers say the resulting network has some key advantages over the centralized alternatives. For one, it operates via open standards and avoids the conflicts of interest that can arise when a major cloud-computing provider hosts products that compete with its own services. 

Originally called DFINITY, ICP’s global and distributed network of data centers can run all of the applications that are accessible via traditional Internet standards such as DNS (the domain name system you use via web browsers and smartphones). 

The Internet today is highly centralized. Popular applications on the web are often closed-source, proprietary, and are hosted on a handful of data centers owned by big tech firms. And if one critical data center fails, huge swathes of the web can also shut down with it. Another major concern (particularly for privacy advocates) is that centralized, corporate web-services providers have the ability to censor or deplatform applications. 

The Internet Computer attempts to offer a fundamental alternative so that developers can build, host, and serve applications in a more decentralized way  — allowing websites to be deployed directly onto the public internet. Further, the Internet Computer would incentivize open source and transparent software development.

As explained in the MIT Technology Review’s profile of the Internet Computer: “Instead of running on a dedicated server in Google Cloud, for example, the software would have no fixed physical address, moving between servers owned by independent data centers around the world.”

One way you can think of ICP is as a way of converting crypto into processing power — the network will establish a fee based on the amount of computing power required by a developer’s project. As long as the fee is paid, the website will run on the public internet. 

In theory, any kind of application can be created and run on the Internet Computer — from social networks similar to LinkedIn and TikTok, to software similar to all the familiar applications you know today, to new kinds of applications not yet conceived. 

The Internet Computer is built by the DFINITY Foundation and was started by a developer named Dominic Williams in 2016. The DFINITY Foundation is a nonprofit organization devoted to researching and developing the Internet Computer — after years of research, it officially launched in May 2021. Researchers all over the world contribute to the foundations’ work — including cryptographers that hold around 100,000 academic citations and 200 patents.

The ICP token can be purchased and traded via exchanges like Coinbase.

Released: May 2021