What is DFINITY?

A decentralized cloud blockchain infrastructure is one of the goals of the DFINITY project, which is an effort to create a new kind of Internet.

The original vision for Ethereum was to create a “global computer,” and its developers want to make that a reality. The company’s founders refer to the venture as the “crazy sister of Ethereum,” the “Internet computer,” and “cloud 3.0.” They also anticipate that DFINITY will compete with both Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.

The infrastructure of the project, which is built on blockchain technology, is intended to facilitate the development of new software systems, cut down on the expenses associated with storing and safeguarding information, and guarantee the privacy of user data.

What Kinds of Technological Capabilities Does DFINITY Have?

Canisters

The canister is a computing unit that provides the capability for the application to continue operating in an isolated state from the surrounding environment. It retains information not only about the prior events, user interactions, and state changes, but also about the current state of the program and its history.

Open Internet Service

A technology that is utilized in the “Internet computer” is known as Open Internet Service. The fact that the code is embedded into the “fabric” of the Internet itself enables the service to function independently, while it does rely on the assistance of users.

When a programmer wants to construct an Open Internet Service, they must first transfer control of their canisters to publicly managed tokenized canisters. These canisters are then accountable for the setup and updates of the Open Internet Service. After that, NNS takes control of the process and facilitates voting and decision making over its code, policies, and functions.

The Open Internet Service has the ability to label public features as “permanent,” such as application programming interfaces (APIs). Canisters are unable to override such publicly available functions in this scenario. It’s possible that the update will reduce the functionality that the canister offers, which will render the API useless. In this particular scenario, updates are made to the Open Internet Service management system by the Internet Computer management system. They will remain in effect until the functionality that was expected to be restored.

Developers are able to design services that are dependent on the data or functionality offered by other services thanks to persistent application programming interfaces (APIs). At the same time, businesses do not have to worry about platform risk, which is the risk of being dependent on the API provided by technology companies.

For instance, when the LinkedIn network cut off access to its application programming interface (API), hundreds of businesses suddenly lost all of their data as well as the source of authentication for their accounts. The Open Internet Service is not owned by anyone and provides users with unrestricted access to the “code” that governs its operation. The latter can make use of it without worrying that they will lose it or their access to it.

Motoko

Alongside the software development kit (SDK), the DFINITY Foundation is working to create a brand-new programming language known as Motoko. On Internet Computers, it is intended to provide assistance to a wide variety of developers in the process of developing and maintaining websites, business systems, and Internet services.

The DFINITY Foundation is dedicated to making as many improvements as possible to Motoko in order to make it compatible with the new environment. Internet Computers are able to support a wide variety of frameworks simultaneously.

Additionally, the company is working on a software development kit (SDK) that will support the programming languages Rust and C. It is anticipated that there would be a great deal of development kits of this kind.

Cycles

Cycles, abbreviated as CYCLEs, are a type of computing resource that enables users to carry out tasks on the Internet Computer. All canisters utilize resources in cycles to route messages and save data.

Canisters always keep a certain amount of money in their accounts so that their apps can pay for things like communication, computation, and data storage. Cycles are the measure of choice for expressing the cost of data processing.

Cycles represent the net cost of operations and resources such as physical hardware, rack space, electricity, storage devices, and bandwidth. These costs can be broken down further into component parts. To put it another way, one WebAssembly instruction is equal to one cycle unit, which measures how much it costs to execute.

Malicious code is unable to deplete resources on the platform since there is a cap placed on the number of cycles that canisters are allowed to use. The relative consistency of transaction costs also makes it simple to make predictions regarding other aspects of the system, such as the number of cycles required to process one million messages.

Cycles function in a manner comparable to that of gas in Ethereum and loans in AWS; however, they also have additional applications including data, computation, and the carrying out of activities. Additionally, their approach accounts for potential technological problems, such as the ever increasing cost of utilization.

Neuron

Neurons are a component of a larger system that is sometimes referred to as the Blockchain Nervous System (BNS) or the Network Nervous System (NNS).

BNS operates in a manner that is analogous to that of a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO. This means that every member of the network has the ability to suggest modifications to economic policy or an update in exchange for a fee. Votes on the proposal are taken into consideration by neurons that are operated by operators.

The number of tokens that are currently in the stake as well as the amount of time that the neuron is active both contribute to the overall weight of the voice. Tokens are given as compensation to neuron operators for the processing of votes. The method in question is known as “thought mining,” or simply mining for thoughts.

It is within the purview of the neuron’s owner to alter the structure of the neuron in the event that he is of the opinion that he does not possess adequate knowledge to cast a vote on a topic of significant complexity. The upgraded neuron will start to “follow” the neuron that is owned by someone with more expertise.

The “following” process is versatile, meaning that a neuron can “follow” one or more other neurons depending on the sort of voting that is taking place (on economics, politics, customer upgrades, and so on). In addition, users have the ability to “dissolve” their neurons, freeing tokens that were previously trapped inside the neurons, and convert those tokens into cycles in order to carry out computing tasks.

ICP

The ICP Utility Token, formerly known as DFN, is put up as a security deposit (for example, via staking), which enables users to take part in the management of the project. In addition to this, it can perform the function of a security mechanism that makes it possible for client software or DFINITY private cloud networks to communicate with the public network.

ICP tokens are a form of incentive given to neuron operators who take part in voting on matters pertaining to network operations. The amount of the payout is determined by the total number of tokens that were wagered on the neuron.

In the future, tokens will function in the same way that gas does in Ethereum to guarantee the operation of decentralized apps. ICP will be combusted so that fresh cycles can be made.

Technology Based on Chain Keys

Chain Key Technology is a public key that is 48 bytes long and eliminates the need for older blocks, which results in an increase in the speed of the Internet computer. The technology makes it possible to complete transactions that bring the state of smart contracts up to date in as little as one to two seconds.

The execution of a smart contract function is split up into two different categories by Internet Computer. These categories are query calls and update calls. It takes about one to two seconds to finalize update calls.

Request calls operate in a different manner: any changes they make to the state (in this case, canister memory pages) are deleted after they have been made after the request call has completed. You will be able to make call-requests in a matter of milliseconds if you do this.

Subnet

A blockchain in the Internet computer network known as Subnet is capable of integrating with other blockchains, which boosts the performance of the blockchain. The Network Nervous System connects the nodes of many autonomous data centers to produce subnets that are then utilized to host canisters.

Subnets are invisible to the code running on the container as well as the users of the container; instead, developers and users communicate directly with the Internet Computer. At the same time, the Internet Control Protocol (ICP) repeats data and calculations in the subnet nodes in a way that is both secure and transparent at a very deep level.

The protocol, in contrast to standard blockchains, controls the decentralization of both data and the computing activities involved. It is not feasible to create pools (as is the case with Proof of Work and Proof of Stake blockchains), nor is it possible for validator nodes to have a high quantity of tokens at stake in order to create more blocks (as is the case with Proof of Stake blockchains).

Chain Key Technology allows for the execution of direct interactions with subnets as well as interactions between the subnets themselves.

Network Nervous System

The Network Nervous System (NNS) is an independent piece of software that administers the Internet Computer and governs all of the operations that take place inside the ecosystem, ranging from the economy to the topology of the network.

NNS is a protocol that is part of a system that combines the computing power of different nodes in order to generate a blockchain. This system is located on the network itself.

For the purpose of validating ICP transactions, NNS operates as an autonomous master blockchain equipped with a public key.

The NNS puts up for a vote various suggestions for growing the network by either integrating new nodes or adding subnets. After that, those who are currently in possession of ICP utility tokens are the ones who are responsible for making the necessary judgments.

Threshold Relay

Threshold Relay is a cutting-edge validation technique that gives you the opportunity to increase the capabilities of both your computation and storage resources.

ActorScript

ActorScript is DFINITY’s native programming language, and it was created to make it simpler for programmers to manage application state. This is accomplished by providing a so-called orthogonally stable environment, in which running programs do not have to revoke or save their state. ActorScript was designed to make programmers’ lives easier.

When was DFINITY first created, and who did it?

The DFINITY Foundation and the Internet Computer project were both started by Dominic Williams, who is also the organization’s principal scientist. He holds a degree in computer science from King’s College London, is a successful businessman, and is currently conducting both theoretical and practical research and development in the subject of distributed computing.

He became interested in the concept of Ethereum supporters to build a “global computer” while he was working on the development of computer games. In 2013, Williams focused all of his attention only on the investigation of blockchain technology.

By 2015, Williams was working on a model that would focus on the production of random numbers and make use of threshold cryptography in a decentralized network. This model was Williams’ primary emphasis. He gave this idea the moniker DFINITY, which is an acronym for “decentralized infinity,” and he developed a straightforward website for the initiative. Following it, Williams developed the fundamental architecture of the “internet computer” as well as the foundation for the software that was hosted on it.

At the moment, there are 180 members on the DFINITY team. It is composed of individuals who formerly worked as developers for Alphabet and Uber, in addition to PhDs from Yale University. Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Zurich are the three cities that host research facilities for the DFINITY Foundation. Multiple states in the United States as well as Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom each have their own independent development teams.

Pre-registration for the Internet Computer launch, which was the fifth and last of a series of five major steps leading up to the launch, was made available by the project on March 17, 2021.

After the genesis block of the Mercury network was successfully launched, the native token of the Internet Computer project (ICP) was listed on the leading bitcoin exchanges and entered the top 5 crypto assets by market capitalization. This occurred after the successful launch of the genesis block of the Mercury network.