Crypto of the Week: Internet Computer

By Fergus Halliday

May 14 2021
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Another week, another cryptocurrency in the headlines. Here is what you need to know about Internet Computer.

What is Internet Computer?

The pitch for Internet Computer positions it as less of a direct competitor to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and more of an alternative to cloud-based businesses like Amazon Web Services.

According to the official website, “The Internet Computer extends the functionality of the public Internet so that it can host backend software, transforming it into a global compute platform.”

If bitcoin is a decentralised ledger and ether is a decentralised safety deposit box, then Internet Computer is a decentralised infrastructure.

Dfinity Foundation founder Dominic Williams calls Internet Computer the third major innovation in blockchain after Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Williams says that Internet Computer is “the first blockchain to support smart contract software that runs at web speed, serves user experiences directly to users, and scales its compute capacity without bound — increasing the potential applications that can run on a public blockchain, as well as improving the reach of today’s blockchain ecosystem”

Who makes Internet Computer?

Internet Computer is developed and managed by the Dfinity Foundation, a non-profit based in Zurich, Switzerland.

Dfinity was founded in 2016 and boasts three research centres and 188 employees. The company’s investors include 16z crypto, Polychain Capital, V Angel, Aspect Ventures, Village Global, Multicoin Capital, Scalar Capital, and Amino Capital.

How does Internet Computer work?

At the most basic level, Internet Computer is a decentralised computer that acts as a hosting platform for apps and other web services. As the name suggests, it’s essentially a computer that exists on the internet in the form of a public blockchain.

Internet Computer is made up of a decentralised network of data centres connected via blockchain and structured by a proprietary protocol developed by the Dfinity Foundation.

The ICP token is a cryptocurrency linked to the platform. It gives holders access to the resources that this network produces and a say in how the network itself works.

What does the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) token do?

The ICP token allows users to participate in the governance process of the Internet Computer Protocol network.

The more ICP tokens you have, the greater your voting power when it comes to issues like how ICP token holders are remunerated for investing in the platform or determining what kinds of applications are or are not allowed on the platform.

ICP can also be converted into a resource called cycles, which is used to power websites and applications on the Internet Computer network.

The idea here is that adoption and usage of the Internet Computer platform (as a public-facing alternative to public cloud providers like Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services) will drive the purchase of the ICP token.

How much is the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) token worth?

As of May 14 2021, ICP is priced at $301.39 USD per unit.

Tallied up at that price, ICP has a market cap of US$42 billion.

Less than a week after its debut, this high valuation makes Internet Computer the 8th most valuable cryptocurrency in the world.

For comparison, bitcoin (BTC) currently has a market cap of US$953 billion while ether (ETH) sits in second place at US$463 billion.

Where can you buy the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) token?

The Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) token can be purchased using major cryptocurrency exchanges such as:

Binance
Gate.Io
OKEx
Huobi
Coinbase

About the author

Fergus Halliday

Fergus is a journalist for Momentum Media's nestegg and Smart Property Investment. He likes to write about money, markets, how innovation is changing the financial landscape and how younger consumers can achieve their goals in unpredictable times.

About the author

Fergus Halliday

Fergus is a journalist for Momentum Media's nestegg and Smart Property Investment. He likes to write about money, markets, how innovation is changing the financial landscape and how younger consumers can achieve their goals in unpredictable times.

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