But while analysts agree, the next generation of market disruptors—think Uber, Netflix, and Airbnb—is very likely to emerge. blockchain ecosystem, many startups still choose to build their applications on the old web2 infrastructure. This is a clear example of technological inertia.
And inertia can be extremely dangerous. Just ask Kodak how the conservative reluctance to embrace new higher technologies, namely digital photography, has affected their business. Or talk to the horse carriage manufacturers…oh wait, they’re gone, aren’t they?
Sure, there was still money to be made in the carriage industry after the transition to internal combustion engines, but the future belonged to the automobile industry all along. We are currently at a similar juncture in history. Even in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is still possible to succeed with web2, but the true potential of web3 is also becoming clearer every day.
Are there really 10,000 different blockchains and is it really that hard to pick one?
Short answer, no. Most tech entrepreneurs intuitively feel that using blockchain technology can do wonders for them. However, the question remains: What specific advantages do DLT technologies provide in a specific industry? What are the risks? And if we take advantage of these technologies, which blockchain should we choose to build a specific application?
The myth of thousands of different blockchain solutions only adds to this confusion. According to https://coinmarketcap.com/, there are 20,168 different cryptocurrencies today. Thing is, 98% of them have nothing to do with Layer 1 blockchains or protocols – the vast majority are ERC-20 or other Layer 2 projects running on Ethereum and other major Layer 1 solutions. So only the latter are true sovereign blockchains, and at best there are a dozen to choose from based on reliability and technical characteristics.
The good news is that most people in the tech world already know that web3 systems offer the benefits of decentralization, immutability, and transparency. However, many of them still believe that these benefits are more theoretical and difficult to implement in their specific application. And that was absolutely true until a few years ago.
The truth is that blockchain is the most dynamic and fastest growing industry in human history.
As a result, the technology already exists to offer the perfect user experience of web2 and the benefits of web3. For example, the decentralized Autonomous Internet Computing Protocol (ICP) offers the same Internet speed and experience that developers and users of legacy systems around the world are used to. The only difference is complete autonomy and decentralization.
ICP stands out from the pack of other cryptocurrencies as cheaper, faster and the only infinitely scalable general purpose blockchain. At the same time, its ecosystem is developer-friendly, and the protocol itself is easy to integrate. Thus, for Baltic countries and other technology companies that want to take the first step into the world of new opportunities opened by web3, an Internet computer is one of the first options to consider.
5 Key Pillars of Blockchain Competition
The advantages of ICP are best presented through the five main angles of blockchain competition: trust, speed, cost, user-friendliness, autonomy. They are presented in two parts of this article. Part 1 explains why ICP is the best web3 solution in terms of reliability, resiliency and user-friendliness. In part 2, we will show that it is the fastest and cheapest of all blockchains, and we will also discuss the important aspect of autonomy.
It is important to remember that the following is only an introduction to the technological advantages of Internet computing, an introduction that can barely scratch the surface of its advantages. As well as the fact that due to its efficiency, ICP is one of the greenest options compared to blockchain and legacy solutions. One Internet operation on a computer consumes four times less energy than one Google search. Details on the different aspects of this protocol can be found at www.dfinity.org, which by the way also only runs on the ICP blockchain.
ICP fact sheet
© Photo of the organizers.
Confidence and resilience
Paradox: While blockchain technology was created to solve the problem of trust, it has itself become the object of deep-seated mistrust. The atmosphere of suspicion surrounding blockchain is the result of many malicious intents, lack of regulation, and broken or unsustainable protocols in the cryptocurrency space. Take the current debacle of the CeFi sector in cryptocurrencies as an example. Meanwhile, an Internet computer is on the opposite side of the reliability spectrum.
In particular, the protocol is supported by VC heavyweights like a16z and Polychain. It has the largest R&D department in the blockchain space, consisting of more than 300 world-renowned cryptographers, programming language experts, and distributed systems engineers. Scientific publications by IC scientists have been cited more than 100,000 times.
ICP nodes are hosted in independent, institutional-grade data centers around the world and do not rely entirely on cloud services, which is still a rarity in the blockchain world. In fact, the protocol was created to compete with AWS and at the same time as the foundation of the new Internet. And so far it’s been doing it quite successfully – unlike most centralized networks, ICP hasn’t experienced any significant downtime in its first year of existence.
Another unique aspect of IC Resilience is the native integration of Bitcoin and Ethereum. BTC integration is currently in beta and ETH integration is planned for later this year.
This is a real game changer for decentralized finance, as the developers of ICP have come up with a unique solution that allows you to bypass bridges when connecting to other blockchains. This is a huge leap forward in terms of security because According to Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, “there are critical safety limits for bridges.” As a result, ICP is already attracting a lot of interest from various players fleeing the shaky DeFi territories.
User friendliness
So, while the decentralized nature of blockchain and ICP gives projects maximum resilience and transparency, developers can also enjoy full services and uptime after deploying their decentralized application (dapp) on the ICP network.
ICP dashboard
© Photo of the organizers.
Because the DFINITY Foundation is the primary developer of the Internet’s computing protocol, its engineers are not only expanding the network with new features and integrations. They also do all the maintenance, ensure that all dapps run smoothly on the network and that ICP has virtually no downtime.
In addition to 300 developers and engineers exclusively dedicated to the maintenance and development of the ICP network, it also hosts around 300 dapps. It is the fifth fastest growing ecosystem in the entire blockchain space. This has resulted in a thriving community of ICP developers who share their knowledge and provide support https://forum.dfinity.org/
The IC’s specially designed programming language is called Motoko. It is a relatively new language and not widely known by developers. However, it is designed to be readable and familiar with JavaScript, and is very easy for most developers to learn. In fact, one can learn to improve with ICP by simply using it 5 online workshops.
All in all, ICP is one of the best choices for beginners looking to take advantage of web3 because of its reliability, resilience, and ease of connection. However, its true potential is best understood in conjunction with the speed and negligible cost of using an Internet computer. And these two main features will be discussed in the second part of this article.
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