Dfinity unveils ‘Internet Computer’ with Mercury Genesis launch event

DFINITY Foundation, the non-profit team building and maintaining development of Dfinity’s “Internet Computer” — the world’s first fully adaptive blockchain, has officially launched today through its Mercury Genesis launch event.The Internet Computer’s blockchain network will help developers create websites, enterprise-level IT systems, internet services, and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications by plugging in, deploying, and installing a project’s codebase directly on the public internet domain. Dfinity describes their projects as “a new type of blockchain computer with infinite capacity and performance that rivals the traditional cloud,” a bold initiative to somehow renew and revitalize the creative potential of the open web and “extend the public internet.”The event marks the public launch of what the team has dubbed as the Internet Computer, a blockchain network that’s run by what is called the Network Nervous System (NNS). This control hub is a decentralized and tokenized governance system that’s fully open for anyone to submit a proposal to, hence the “fully adaptive blockchain” claim.The protocol can be updated or patched for security, tweaked with economic parameters, and form new subnet blockchains to increase its capacity at any time. The Internet Computer’s NNS runs through its own protocol, and can fully deploy all changes without disrupting the network’s flow or security. What Dfinity is launching is essentially a gateway for the public internet to be “blockchained” in the sense that its users, that is, literally anyone using the internet, can stake Internet Computer (ICP) governance tokens, which then creates voting neurons.As a utility token, ICP can either be staked to earn the voting rewards (neurons), or converted into cycles, which can then be used to power smart contract computation. Neurons work as a user’s account for access to ICP development and voting power. Dfinity claims that its project is the “third great innovation in blockchain” after Bitcoin’s peer-to-peer origins, and Ethereum’s smart contracts.Dfinity’s ICP protocol marks a historic milestone in the crypto and blockchain industry as the first self-directed decentralized infrastructure. The foundation’s vision with the Internet Computer will challenge proprietary centralized infrastructures currently built on the internet, which are run by commercial organizations also known as “Big Tech”. Dfinity’s project will openly challenge the dominance of proprietary cloud infrastructures such as Amazon’s Amazon Web Services (AWS), Alphabet’s Google Cloud infrastructure, and Digital Ocean, among others.Earlier this week, Coinbase has announced that it will be listing the token on its Coinbase Pro ledger, with trading becoming generally available as liquidity conditions are met. Dfinity’s founder and chief scientist, Dominic Williams, announced during the event that the Internet Computer protocol will be launched on its mainnet beta mode on Monday, May 10th, at 9AM PST.Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.