Last year, members of the Internet Computer community demonstrated their commitment to decentralizing protocols in the ecosystem by pledging nearly $80 million worth of Internet Computer (ICP) tokens.
The DFINITY Foundation, a contributor to the Internet Computer network, recently released its 2023 protocol ecosystem report. According to the report, the community dedicated over 6.5 million ICP tokens to decentralization efforts.
The pledge was made through the Internet Computer’s Service Nervous System (SNS) framework, which enables protocols to transform into decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
Several ICP projects and decentralized applications (dapps) received funding through SNS decentralization. These include OpenChat, a decentralized messenger; Dragginz, a metaverse platform; Kinic, a blockchain search engine; Hot or Not, a “Web3 TikTok” platform; Ghost, the first ICP memecoin; Modclub, a decentralized verification-as-a-service platform; BOOM DAO, an on-chain gaming platform; and Catalyze, a social dapp.
Following the implementation of SNS, the daily message count on OpenChat experienced a significant surge after October 2023.
Lomesh Dutta, Vice President of Growth at DFINITY, praised the success of the SNS framework, highlighting its innovative technology stack and multiple network integrations.
The DFINITY Foundation also reported substantial growth in blockchain gaming activity on the Internet Computer, attributing it to low transfer fees and high scaling capabilities.
In addition, the foundation distributed $6.25 million in ecosystem grants to 239 projects across 41 countries in 2023 to support the growth of the ICP ecosystem. The report indicates that overall network usage on ICP increased by 121% year-over-year, indicating consistent ecosystem-wide growth.
Decentralized finance on ICP has also experienced steady growth this year, with the total value locked increasing by 24% to $27 million since January 1, according to DefiLlama.
ICP prices have recently surged following the network’s advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). Dominic Williams, CEO of DFINITY, posted a video on March 22 demonstrating a “sophisticated AI running on blockchain” as a smart contract on the Internet Computer. This development has sparked a 50% increase in ICP prices, reaching a two-year high of just under $20 on March 26. However, the asset is still down 97% from its all-time high of $700 in May 2021.
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