Overview
What’s Web Laptop (ICP)?
The Web Laptop (ICP) is a undertaking constructed by the DFINITY Basis that goals at making a decentralized blockchain infrastructure for a brand new kind of Web. The ICP builders outline the community as a “world laptop” with a totally on-chain web-3 platform and inexpensive knowledge storage service accessible to anybody.
The ICP strives to interchange not simply the appliance layer however the entire web infrastructure. Initially, the idea of the “world laptop” was launched by Ethereum. The Web Laptop is taking the concept additional however not as a competitor to Ethereum however slightly as “Ethereum’s crazy sister.” Some declare that the ICP is “the fastest blockchain” and “infinitely scalable” as a result of its structure. The latter implies that an elevated variety of nodes doesn’t affect the throughput of the community.
The ICP’s nodes run on specialised {hardware} housed by varied impartial knowledge facilities. The platform lets builders deploy and run functions by the usage of canisters, that are akin to good contracts.
The ICP community options two core tokens: ICP and Cycles. ICP is the community’s governance token, whereas Cycles (created from ICP cash) are tokens with a near-constant worth that enables customers to pay for computational sources and community transactions.
A short historical past of ICP
The primary contributor to the ICP deployment is DFINITY Basis which was based by laptop scientist Dominic Williams in October 2016. In February 2017, the undertaking held its first crowdsale, elevating 3.9 million Swiss francs ($4.1 million). A 12 months later, ICP held a non-public token sale for accredited buyers, elevating $102 million. Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital led the funding spherical.
Initially, the ICP was deliberate to be launched within the first quarter of 2019. Nevertheless, in December 2018, undertaking representatives stated that releasing a “cut-down model” might decelerate the progress of making a full-fledged product, and postponed the launch. After that, the ICP skilled a number of phases earlier than the mainnet launch:
- Copper (This autumn 2019): At this stage, the alpha model of the software program growth equipment (SDK) was launched and the technical documentation of the Motoko good contract language was printed.
- Bronze (Q1 2020): The ICP grew to become a platform able to desktop internet utility growth.
- Tungsten (Q2 2020): The ICP grew to become open to third-party builders. Cellular growth capabilities have been launched as nicely.
- Sodium (This autumn 2020): DFINITY launched a protocol administration system known as Community Nervous System (NNS) that hosts and governs all subnets throughout the community. Sodium additionally launched the idea of “cycles” and a system of “neurons” that assist governance and staking through ICP coin.
- Mercury (Q1-Q2 2021): The undertaking launched the alpha model of the mainnet. The genesis block of the Mercury community was launched on Could seventh.
After the mainnet launch, NNS began issuing ICP utility tokens. The ICP was listed on quite a few crypto exchanges and quickly entered the highest seven crypto property by market capitalization.
In September 2021, DFINITY Basis introduced the start of labor on “direct integration of the Web Laptop with the Bitcoin blockchain.”
The primary part of the mixing was finished in January 2022, offering the flexibility to generate threshold ECDSA signatures used for bitcoin transactions.
In August 2022, DFINITY Basis completed the second part, launching the BTC<>ICP testnet. The ultimate third part is devoted to BTC<>ICP full integration.
Along with bitcoin integration, ICP builders launched HTTP outcalls for the community’s good contracts in September 2022. This characteristic permits the ICP community to immediately work together with off-chain knowledge sources with out utilizing oracles.
