Crypto Quips

The Internet Computer is a “world computer” created by weaving together the compute capacity of independent data centers across the world. Conceptually, it can be thought of as a highly secure edge cloud platform that isn’t controlled by a singular company. But does that mean that the Internet Computer’s native token (ICP) should be valued against the market capitalization of edge cloud (or even cloud) companies? If not, how should we value it? ICP has three major functions. First, it is used to pay for compute power on the Internet Computer. Second, it is used to vote on changes to the Internet Computer. And third, it is used to buy things that are sold on the Internet Computer. These three have equivalents in traditional markets that can help provide frameworks for valuation: (1) energy commodities, (2) equities, and (3) money. ICP as Energy Commodity. Software on the Internet Computer cannot run unless it has been charged with “cycles”—a so-called stable coin that is pegged to...

The Internet Computer faced arguably its largest challenge yet on Tuesday when a member of the DFINITY foundation proposed the deletion of a canister that contained intellectual property owned by Nintendo. According to the foundation member, the proposal was prompted by a takedown notice that Nintendo sent one of the node operators that hosts a node in the subnet that contained the relevant canister. The proposal was later mooted because the canister creator removed the canister herself. But underlying question is still live: should we use the Internet Computer’s governance system to purge canisters that infringe on intellectual property? If the DFINITY forum is any indicator, the majority of the Internet Computer community seems to think that the Internet Computer should allow the NNS to remove canisters that infringe on intellectual property. This view seems to be based on the underlying premise that allowing canisters that use intellectual property without permission to run on the...

  What is the Internet Computer? The Internet Computer is a protocol that connects independent datacenters around the world and enables them collectively to create a giant computer that no singular datacenter controls and that anybody can use. Technically, the Internet Computer is not unique in that regard: every public blockchain could be described in a similar way. What is unique about the Internet Computer, however, is that it does not face the same constraints that plague other blockchains. Other blockchains are architected in a way that severely limits the storage and compute they can handle. This constraint makes traditional blockchains prohibitively expensive to use for any application that requires even a moderate level of storage. Indeed, it is no coincidence that up until now blockchains have been associated only with storage-light applications like DeFi. In stark contrast, the Internet Computer can scale its capacity without bound to host any volume of computations...