Coin columns · Mainnet Province
Internet Computer (ICP): A Layer-1 Built to Host Whole Web Services
Launched 2021 by DFINITY: canisters, cycles and the NNS
The Internet Computer is a blockchain whose smart contracts can store data and serve web pages, so web services can run on-chain without cloud servers. ICP is its native coin, used for governance and converted into the “cycles” that pay for computation.
1. Who built it
Development is led by the DFINITY Foundation, a Swiss non-profit founded by Dominic Williams. Research began around 2016, and the mainnet, called “Genesis”, launched on 10 May 2021. The network’s rules are set not by the foundation but by a decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO) in which ICP holders vote.
Blocks are produced by dedicated node machines in independent data centres around the world, and node providers join with governance approval. On the Crypto Nation map, ICP is the city-hall tower at the centre of its own chain’s neighbourhood in the Mainnet Province, as the Internet Computer’s own coin.
2. How it works
Smart contracts here are called “canisters”: they bundle WebAssembly code with data and can deliver web pages straight to a browser. The network is split into “subnets” that each produce blocks, and chain-key cryptography lets the whole network sign results with a single public key that outsiders can check quickly.
Fees follow a “reverse gas” model in which app developers, not users, pay. Developers burn ICP to make cycles, priced against the IMF’s Special Drawing Right so costs stay steady when ICP’s price moves. Governance runs through the Network Nervous System (NNS), where ICP locked in “neurons” votes on proposals and earns rewards.
3. Uses and milestones
The network hosts social apps, messengers, decentralised exchanges and a Service Nervous System (SNS) that turns apps into their own DAOs. In 2023 it connected directly to Bitcoin with ckBTC, a token pegged one to one to bitcoin, and later added ckETH, expanding its “Chain Fusion” links.
In 2025 DFINITY unveiled Caffeine, an AI service that builds web apps from a conversation and deploys them straight onto the Internet Computer. Internet Identity, a login that uses a device’s biometrics instead of passwords, has been offered from the start.
4. Things to know
ICP’s price plunged soon after it listed in May 2021; that year analytics firm Arkham published a report alleging insider selling, and US investors filed class actions. DFINITY rejected the allegations. In 2023 the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) named ICP as a security in its lawsuit against Coinbase, but that case was dropped in 2025.
Critics also question its decentralisation: the NNS approves node providers and hardware, and the DFINITY Foundation has held substantial voting power, making it more managed than typical public chains. Supporters reply that this design is what delivers its speed and low costs, so the trade-off is the key question.
Written from information public up to October 2026. It does not recommend or rate any coin and is not investment advice. If something is wrong, please tell us through the contact page.