Internet Computer
About Internet Computer
The price of Internet Computer (ICP) is $7.98 today, as of Sep 16 08:11 p.m., with a 24-hour trading volume of $89.95M. Over the last 24 hours, the price has decreased by -4.92%. Internet Computer currently has a circulating supply of 470.40M and a market cap of $3.76B.
ICP serves as the native cryptocurrency for Internet Computer, a blockchain platform aiming to revolutionize internet applications. It achieves this by offering faster and more scalable smart contracts. Internet Computer employs a hybrid proof-of-stake consensus, combining permissioned and permissionless structures. Governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), it seeks to harness the efficiency of permissioned networks and the decentralization of permissionless networks.
Notably, ICP's smart contracts have the ability to store data, perform computations, and serve web pages directly on the blockchain. This innovative approach eliminates the reliance on third-party cloud or private hosting services. In essence, Internet Computer functions as a decentralized, blockchain-based internet, providing users with increased control over their data.
DACS Sector: Smart Contract Platform
Internet Computer features two types of tokens:
- ICP, its native asset and governance token, which token owners can use to vote on important protocol decisions that affect the entire ecosystem.
- Cycles, which are created by "burning" ICP. Cycles are used to pay for computational resources on Internet Computer.
Unlike the case with some other cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, there’s no supply cap on the total number of ICP tokens. Thirty-eight percent of the initial supply went to investors and 62% to the founders and team.
When ICP was launched in May 2021 following five years of development, its price hit its all-time high of $460.84. But the price swiftly tanked by 95% to $34 in June and then went even lower to $28.01 in July 2021. At the time, the Dfinity Foundation, the nonprofit organization that developed the Internet Computer blockchain, told CoinDesk that the drop was likely because the token started trading at the height of a crypto-wide bull run.
For the rest of 2021, ICP's price stabilized. It climbed to a peak of $84.75 in August, but since that time, it traded between $20 and $60 (as of January 2022).