ICP: The Controversial Project from ICU to New Life

The Internet Computer project, as a controversial blockchain project, has experienced a fall from its peak to a trough, followed by a recent rebound, attracting widespread attention in the market. This article will delve into the core technologies of this project, its current development status, and its ecosystem.

Project Overview

The Internet Computer aims to create a decentralized network platform that enables developers to build and run various applications without relying on traditional cloud services, databases, or payment interfaces. The vision of the project is to reshape the business model and governance structure of the internet, reducing the intermediary role of large tech companies in internet commerce.

The Internet Computer defines software components through the Internet Computer Protocol, enabling a global network of computers to integrate resources to handle application states. The key to its infrastructure lies in security protocols, a distributed data center network, and a globally accessible scalable platform.

Technical Highlights

The core technology of the Internet Computer is based on canisters and chain key. A canister is a container that supports WebAssembly contracts, allowing for interaction and asset transfer between different canisters. This reflects the anti-gas technology of ICP, where users do not need to pay fees, but rather the canisters spend cycles.

Chainkey technology and elliptic curve signatures have enabled cross-chain functionality for ckBTC and ckETH, enhancing the advantages of ICP, allowing for asset custody within canisters and improving privacy. These technologies enable ICP to support various applications, including DeFi, NFTs, gaming, social media, and e-commerce.

Project Team

The Internet Computer is developed under the leadership of Dominic Williams, founder and chief scientist of Dfinity. The team includes world-class cryptographers, mathematicians, and senior engineers, such as the inventor of Stanford's BLS technology and the inventors of Bitcoin's ASICBOOST and p2contract.

Economic Model

The inflation rate of ICP staking rewards has decreased from the initial 10% to the current 7.21%. Users participating in the Network Nervous System (NNS) staking can earn voting rewards and gain more voting power through neuron disassembly or compounding.

According to the unlocking data, a large number of tokens will be unlocked in the coming years. By the end of April 2025, approximately 38.94 million ICP is expected to be unlocked, accounting for about 8.6% of the total circulation.

Community Governance

The Internet Computer uses the Network Nervous System (NNS) as an open algorithmic governance system, allowing community members to participate in network decisions and upgrades through voting. Additionally, the Social Nervous System (SNS) is based on the NNS, allowing community members to create and manage their own sub-networks and applications.

Ecosystem Projects

1. Mora: A writing platform based on canister and IPFS that guarantees user data sovereignty.

2. Ghost: The first meme token launched through the SNS DAO in the ICP ecosystem, which once achieved a growth rate of over 100 times.

3. NnsDAO: The first DAO project in the ICP ecosystem, developed multiple projects including an NFT platform, GameFi products, and an education platform.

4. ICscriptions: The first inscription platform in the ICP ecosystem, providing an inscription marketplace, minting functionality, and querying features, among others.

5. ICPswap: A decentralized exchange based on ICP, providing full-stack financial, market, and DAO services.

Despite the severe price drop that the ICP project has experienced, its strong technological foundation and continuously evolving ecosystem still attract market attention. With more innovative projects joining and ongoing technical optimizations, the ICP ecosystem is expected to occupy an important position in the future Web3 space.