In-depth Analysis of ICP Projects and Ecosystem Development

ICP, as a controversial project, has gone through a process of falling from heaven to hell and then to rebirth. From the initial high point of nearly $2000, it plummeted to a low of less than $3, resulting in significant losses for many investors. However, with the recent market recovery, the price of ICP has once again attracted attention, with a cumulative increase of over 4 times, giving many investors renewed hope. This article will provide a detailed introduction to this highly watched project and its ecological development.

Project Introduction

Dfinity aims to create a decentralized Internet Computer that allows developers to build and run various applications on a distributed network platform without relying on traditional cloud services, databases, or payment interfaces. Dfinity's vision is to reshape the business model and governance structure of the internet, eliminating the role of large tech companies as intermediaries.

The Internet Computer is essentially an extension of the existing internet, providing the computing power needed to run application software through a global network of computers. It relies on the Internet Computer Protocol, a decentralized protocol, to define software components, enabling the global network of computers to integrate resources to read, copy, modify, and return the state of applications.

The key components of Internet Computer infrastructure include:

1. A security protocol that allows general computing to operate transparently over the internet.
2. A network that provides computing power through independently operated data centers.
3. A globally accessible and scalable platform for running software applications.

Core Technology

ICP implements fully decentralized applications on-chain based on canister and chainkey technology. Canister is a container that supports WebAssembly contracts, enabling completely decentralized dapps. Different canisters can transfer and interact with each other, reflecting ICP's anti-gas technology. Users do not need to pay gas fees; instead, the canister pays for cycles.

Based on chainkey and elliptic curve signatures, ICP has implemented cross-chain technology for ckBTC and ckETH, enhancing asset custody and privacy. Dfinity can build various applications, including but not limited to DeFi, crypto art, gaming, social media, e-commerce, and search engines.

The advantages of Dfinity include seamless connectivity, powerful performance, and scalability. Developers can build programs and applications directly on the internet's ontology without the need for middleware. When applications need to scale performance, the original container can create new containers or fork itself, increasing overall memory capacity and throughput.

In addition, Dfinity can directly integrate the Bitcoin network through Chainkey encryption technology, providing smart contract support. These technological advantages have attracted the attention of many technical experts.

Team Background

Dfinity is developed by the largest team in the crypto space, bringing together distributed computing engineers, cryptographers, and engineering experts. The founder and chief scientist Dominic Williams is an experienced entrepreneur and crypto theorist, who pioneered Dfinity's threshold relay (BLS+VRF) and PSC chain technology.

The team consists of world-class cryptographers, mathematicians, and senior engineers, including the inventor of the Stanford BLS technology, the inventors of Bitcoin's asicboost and p2contract, as well as multi-party computation and cryptography researchers from Yale University and the European EPFL Distributed Computing Center. Currently, the team has 129 members and possesses strong technical capabilities.

Economic Model and Capital Support

Dfinity has received nearly $101 million in funding to provide platform construction funds for third-party teams. In May 2020, the Dfinity Foundation announced a $200 million fund to attract developers to build on the platform.

Investors include renowned venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z), Polychain Capital, Multicoin Capital, and Wanxiang Blockchain.

ICP Token Unlocking Situation

Currently, the staking reward inflation rate of ICP has decreased from the initial 10% to 7.21%. Users participating in NNS staking can receive voting rewards and gain more voting power through neuron decomposition or compounding.

According to the unlocking data, by the end of April 2024, 3.31 million seed round tokens will be unlocked on the 11th of each month; by the end of April 2025, 2.42 million tokens will be unlocked each month. The total amount to be unlocked is approximately 38.94 million ICP, accounting for 8.6% of the total circulation (calculated based on a total circulation of 450 million).

Community Development

Dfinity has the NNS (Neural Network System), which is an open algorithm governance system that allows community members to participate in network decisions and upgrades through voting. The SNS (Service Neural Network System) is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) based on NNS, allowing community members to create and manage their own sub-networks and applications, establishing an effective community common model.

Dfinity Ecosystem Project

1. Mora: A writing platform based on canister and IPFS, ensuring user data sovereignty. Recently launched free inscriptions, attracting a large number of new users.

2. Ghost: The first meme token in the ICP ecosystem, launched through SNS DAO, with a maximum increase of over 100 times. It excels in Twitter marketing and is considered the best marketing team in the ICP ecosystem.

3. NnsDAO: The first DAO project in the ICP ecosystem, it has built an ecosystem that includes an NFT platform, GameFi products, podcasts, and educational platforms. It has received 5 grants from Dfinity, demonstrating strong technical capabilities.

4. ICscriptions: The first inscription platform of the ICP ecosystem, providing functions such as an inscription marketplace, minting, querying, and an official launchpad. It has both technical development and operational capabilities and is applying for official funding support.

5. ICPswap: A DEX platform based on ICP, providing full-stack financial, market, and DAO services. Its token ICS adopts a deflationary model and has recently announced a token airdrop.

The ICP project, with its unique technological advantages and continuously developing ecosystem, is attracting more and more attention from developers and users. Despite experiencing significant price fluctuations, its core technology and ecosystem construction are still progressing steadily, and future development is worth looking forward to.