Tag: DFINITY FOUNDATION

DFINITY Foundation (ICP) Joins Blockchain Security Alliance

by Blockchain News

The DFINITY Foundation, the ICP token issuer, a leading contributor to the Internet Computer blockchain, has announced its membership in the Blockchain Security Alliance, a collaborative initiative aimed at enhancing the security of the global blockchain ecosystem. The announcement was made on August 9, 2023.

The Blockchain Security Alliance, launched by Beosin and SUSS NiFT, consists of various entities from diverse industry backgrounds, including university institutions, blockchain security companies, industry associations, and fintech service providers. The alliance’s first batch of board members includes Beosin, SUSS NiFT, NUS AIDF, BAS, FOMO Pay, Onchain Custodian, Semisand, Coinhako, ParityBit, and Huawei Cloud.

The Internet Computer blockchain, developed by DFINITY, introduces autonomous serverless cloud functionality to the public internet. This innovation enables developers to build systems or services entirely on a decentralized network using “canister software,” an evolution of smart contracts.

DFINITY’s membership in the Blockchain Security Alliance emphasizes the importance of collaboration and cooperation among members to strengthen security across the blockchain industry. Herbert Yang, DFINITY GM of Asia, stated, “Security has always been one of DFINITY’s top concerns as a decentralized internet computing platform. With 42 members at present, the Alliance stands as a united front committed to safeguarding the integrity and security of the blockchain industry.”

Beosin, a founding member of the alliance, plays a crucial role in enhancing the security of the ecosystem. The company offers a comprehensive “All-in-one” blockchain security solution, including Smart Contract Audits, Risk Monitoring & Alerts, KYT/AML, and Crypto Tracing. Beosin has audited over 3000 smart contracts, including well-known Web3 projects like PancakeSwap, Uniswap, DAI, and OKSwap.

In addition to its security services, Beosin has recently conducted audits for two ICP projects, MID and Catalyze, reflecting its commitment to the security of the ICP ecosystem.

Tommy Deng, Managing Director at Beosin, expressed delight at DFINITY’s participation, saying, “Together with DFINITY and other Alliance members, we strive to establish an ecosystem where innovation thrives amidst robust security measures.”

The Blockchain Security Alliance has been active in hosting events and producing reports on blockchain ecosystem security. Last year’s inaugural event, “ENABLING A DIVERSE ECOSYSTEM IN WEB3.0,” saw significant participation from alliance members.

As co-organizers, Beosin and SUSS NiFT have welcomed DFINITY’s participation and pledged to further the alliance’s work in contributing to the security development of the blockchain industry.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / /

Dfinity Foundation Launches $215 Million Grant To Boost Developer Ecosystem

by NEWSBTC

Dfinity Foundation is boosting its developer ecosystem with a $215 million grant. This is to help further the development of decentralized applications (DApps) on the Internet Computer blockchain. Over 115 teams have benefitted from this grant and more are expected to do so as time goes by.

NewsBTC sat down with Lomesh Dutta, Vice President of Growth at Dfinity Foundation, to talk about the Internet Computer Developer Ecosystem Program, how it’s distributed, and the impact it has had on the blockchain since inception.

NewsBTC: Why was the Developer Ecosystem Program set up?

Lomesh Dutta: The CHF 200m ($215m) Internet Computer Developer Ecosystem Program is a resource that helps developers finance the building of decentralized apps (dapps), tooling, and infrastructure on the Internet Computer.
The Internet Computer is the world’s first blockchain that runs at web speed and can scale without bound. These capabilities empower developers to design new applications and tooling without being hindered by proprietary infrastructure or the limitations of conventional blockchains. The ecosystem program is designed for entrepreneurs, developer teams, and community members, supporting the growth of a new ecosystem of dapps and services on the open, decentralized web.

5 BTC + 300 Free Spins for new players & 15 BTC + 35.000 Free Spins every month, only at mBitcasino. Play Now!

NewsBTC: So far, only $2m out of the $215m grant program has been handed out. Are there plans to ramp up this figure?

Lomesh Dutta: The developer grants program is a subset of the overall ecosystem program. For instance, to supercharge gaming on the Internet Computer we just announced Achievement Unblocked — a $10 million grant pool for gaming developers in partnership with United eSports to demonstrate how blockchain gaming will progressively enter the mainstream. 

Related Reading | Cash App Launches Bitcoin and Stock Gifting Feature For The Holidays

The grant program is designed to offer non-dilutive financing in the form of developer grants to teams building on the Internet Computer. I think the best way to look at the grant program right now is not the amount funded but rather by the number and the quality of teams that have been bootstrapped by the program. All grants are awarded in tiers of $5,000, $25,000, and $100,000. These initial grants help teams build early prototypes and raise larger grants, VCs, and very soon community grants. So far, over 115 teams have received funding from the grants program.

Get 110 USDT Futures Bonus for FREE!

What is super exciting is that very soon (if the community accepts the proposal), ICP holders can easily make their staked ICP available for “autonomous contribution” to decentralization auctions. ​​This is essentially a community-powered fund that could easily be in billions of dollars and would be available to the ecosystem projects that are building on the Internet Computer. In return, those contributing their staked ICP will receive governance tokens for the associated ecosystem project — allowing them to shape the direction of the project. 

Beyond financial support, our team also offers technical support to our developer partners and grantees and often offers ad-hoc help with co-marketing, design, and UX.

Moreover, the Internet Computer provides functionality and utility that many other blockchains cannot, including unbounded smart contract capacity to innovate beyond what is currently conceivable in dapp development. This means there are both technical and marketing support and revenue-generating opportunities on the Internet computer that go far beyond the initial grant.

NewsBTC: Dev activity has been ramping up on Internet Computer. What effect, if any, has this had on the blockchain?

Lomesh Dutta: The developer activity is absolutely mind-blowing. Nearly 13,000 IC smart contracts (we call them canisters) have been deployed since genesis, representing a roughly 20% week-over-week growth in developer adoption. Canisters are the next evolution of smart contracts, and unlike their predecessors, they run at web speed and can store data in memory. This gives them the unique advantage that any form of internet application we know about can be built completely on-chain

Related Reading | Billionaire Ray Dalio Explains Why He Owns Bitcoin And Ethereum

We’re talking about services easily as large and complex as Facebook, Youtube, etc., all running on-chain. I think the world will be in complete awe with what they are about to witness once some of these projects start adding decentralized governance and token incentive mechanisms to supercharge their growth. 

NewsBTC: What would you say has been the biggest pull of Internet Computer blockchain for developers?

Lomesh Dutta: Internet Computer is the only blockchain where developers can build web-scale dapps and games completely on-chain. These dapps run at web speed and do not require end-users to have a wallet or spend tokens to interact with smart contracts. If your ambition, as an entrepreneur, is to build the next Facebook, then you wouldn’t want to settle for any of that friction. Developers are building mass-market applications that run at web scale. Once these projects start implementing decentralized governance and tokenization, we expect several unicorns will emerge out of the Internet Computer ecosystem in very short order. 

NewsBTC: One of the most popular dapps on IC is OpenChat. Given that it is competing against established messaging giants like WhatsApp and Signal, how confident are you in the project?

Lomesh Dutta: The main benefit of Openchat over Signal or Whatsapp is that Openchat runs completely on-chain, is totally decentralized, uncensorable, and is community governed. For example, WhatsApp infamously announced that their privacy policy now required users to accept that their account details, location, IP addresses, and more will be shared with Facebook. They had little choice but to accept the new policy or eventually lose all access to their account. 

ICP price chart from TradingView.com

ICP trading at $23 | Source: ICPUSD on TradingView.com

This could never happen on OpenChat. By its very design, neither the developers nor anyone else could modify, censor, or scrape any user data. This makes us increasingly confident in the blockchain’s future, as more users become disillusioned by the combination of data harvesting and censorship currently happening in many social media platforms.

NewsBTC: To wrap up, give us a brief run-down of how Internet Computer is doing. Any exciting projects in the pipeline?

Lomesh Dutta: For one, we’re very excited to talk about the upcoming integration with both the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks. With Bitcoin, the Internet Computer isn’t utilizing insecure and cumbersome bridging and wrapping services which effectively entrust users’ funds to a third-party smart contract. Instead, the Internet Computer will leverage its Chain Key Cryptography to integrate with Bitcoin directly. This will give each IC Smart Contract its own Bitcoin public key, enabling them to hold, send and receive their own Bitcoin natively. 

As a result, the Internet Computer smart contracts will gain access to bitcoin liquidity, and bitcoin will realize powerful new smart contract functionality — opening up the much-discussed possibilities of DeFi capabilities on bitcoin. This power, combined with IC’s native abilities and ultimately bridging to the Ethereum blockchain, will serve as a powerful means to bring together the whole of web 3.0 and the backbone of the coming Metaverse.

Lastly, to make sure that this ecosystem stays decentralized and in the hands of the people, Dfinity is instilling an ecosystem-wide tokenized governance system for apps on the IC blockchain, dubbed the Service Nervous System (SNS). The SNS upgrade will allow users to vote on the direction of any given platform — from the granular, such as user interface upgrades to the more substantial, including control over app features and user incentivization models. 

Related Reading | WikiLeaks And Bitcoin: A Crypto Love Story?

This also means entrepreneurs and developers can bypass the need for VC funding, as the governance system will earmark an allocation of governance tokens for a given service. For example, this could break down to something like 25% to developers, 25% to the community, and 50% for a treasury reserve. Truly, whatever model is needed can be created and deployed.

We believe this places the Internet Computer at the center of the revolution that is unfolding. Not only does it solve all of the scaling issues present in legacy chains, but it also does so in a way that inclusively brings them along for the ride. This should unlock the true possibilities of web 3.0.

Featured image from CryptoSlate

Source

Tagged : / / / / / / /

$223M fund for Internet Computer builders — but community is wary

by Cointelegraph

Zurich-based Dfinity Foundation has announced a fund worth CHF 200 million, or around $223 million, to support development on the Internet Computer — a blockchain-based decentralized network with wildly ambitious plans to one day “replace” much of the internet.

The non-profit scientific research organization announced “The Developer Ecosystem Program” on May 26, and is now accepting applicants for development grants.

These grants will operate separately from the $14.5 million Beacon Fund, which was announced in September 2020, and is a dedicated venture fund that backs developers creating open internet services on the platform.

In a blog post announcing the new grants, Dfinity founder and chief scientist, Dominic Williams, stated:

“Our aim is to support the reimagination of all systems and services in new forms using smart contracts on an infinite public blockchain, and nothing else.”

Dfinity was founded in 2014 by entrepreneur Dominic Williams and has seen investment from Andreessen Horowitz and PolyChain Capital, who backed the project in a $105 million funding round in 2018.

The Internet Computer’s aim is to replace much of the internet with a self-governing blockchain based decentralized platform, that can facilitate smart contracts at web speed directly to users, with unlimited scalability, while offering greater efficiency and usability that systems built on traditional infrastructure.

The Internet Computer relies on a decentralized Web 3.0 cloud-like protocol dubbed the Internet Computer Protocol, or ICP, that utilizes a combination of data centers and high-end node machines, or validators, across the globe — to create a network of computers to host this new version of the public internet.

The ICP is “intended as a complete replacement” for existing internet infrastructure, Williams told Forbes in 2019.

Dfinity proposes decentralization by introducing a consensus model dubbed the Threshold Relay, which is accompanied by its Network Nervous System, or NNS — algorithmic software that governs the Internet Computer, economics, and structure.

The Internet Computer, or ICP, token enables participation in governance through staking ICP in the NNS and by locking them inside “voting neurons,” with the longer a holder stakes ICP, the more voting power they receive.

Dfinity’s grandiose vision for the ICP has been greeted with a mixed reaction among many in the crypto community, with questions raised over how decentralized the project’s governance actually is.

In an illustrative thread on the “r/dfinity” subreddit on May 25, user “u/Additional_Plant” noted “I don’t doubt that it is a powerful, game changing project. But that doesn’t mean it’s good for us common folks,” adding that:

“There are too many red flags. For all intents and purposes, Dfinity have total control through the NNS. Is it really a crypto? Not really. Is it actually decentralized? Far from it.”

Coinbureau also released a popular review and breakdown of ICP on Youtube on May 23, and highlighted various issues with privacy and decentralization.

The breakdown raised issues such as Dfinity’s apparent “total control” over the network, the undisclosed amount of power the NNS has over governance, and the potential ramifications of users handing over their private data to the project, as they are required to create a single “Internet Identity” to operate on the network.