DFINITY is a public network of client computers that provides a "decentralized computing cloud for the world." Applications can be installed and run on it. These applications have all the advantages of a "smart contract" system on a traditional blockchain, and were designed with the underlying technology in mind to support the construction of a highly resilient tamper-proof private cloud. These private clouds also provide managed software services that can invoke smart contracts on public blockchain clouds, which brings many additional benefits. DFINITY introduces new cryptography technologies and protocols dedicated to delivering extreme performance, unlimited scalability, and interoperability. DFINITY has also introduced a decentralized smart on-chain governance system called the blockchain nervous system.

On the one hand, traditional monopolies such as Uber, eBay, social media, chat software and even web search may be restructured into "open businesses" using autonomous software that will update itself with its own distributed governance systems. On the other hand, leveraging the features provided by blockchain computers to massively restructure existing enterprise IT systems and drastically cut costs.

In the development of the next generation of blockchain, new encryption technologies and protocols are as important as the establishment of blockchain-based PoW and PoS protocols. Because they directly address the current limitations of blockchain efficiency, performance, and capacity, they provide unlimited ways to increase computing and storage capacity.

Internet computers are built on a new decentralized protocol called Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), which combines the collective computing power of a large number of computer nodes to produce a single unified computer platform capable of supporting applications of any size and complexity. With Internet computers, smart contracts are isolated into secure units of code called "cans," which are computing units that run as separate applications or functions. End users will be able to interact with these containers through entry points -- their user experience will be much like the Internet today. Unlike the traditional Internet, Internet computers will host and service applications and data directly on the chain, rather than relying on a centralized infrastructure. At its base layer, the data center network can start nodes that run the ICP protocol. These nodes can then be arranged into subnets to host software containers that users can interact with as part of their Web experience.

Blockchain nervous systems (BNS) have access to special opcodes in virtual machines. This allows BNS to freeze, unfreeze, and modify other independent software objects (smart contracts). It can also configure the DFINITY client software the user is running, such as updating the network protocol to the latest version.

1. Lock inside NNS to create "neurons"; 2. Vote on governance proposals and get voting rewards; 3. Convert to a "loop" to power the completion of code container calculations.

Internet computers are powered by a four-tier consensus mechanism based on proof of stake (POS). It consists of an identity layer, a random beacon layer, a blockchain layer and a notary layer. Together, these layers achieve demonstrable security and resistance to known attack vectors, such as Sybil and 51% attacks, while remaining decentralized and ensuring that the network can scale to support millions of participants.

Unlike competing platforms, end users do not have to pay for the computational output of smart contracts (or cans) on internet-connected computers. These tanks are pre-loaded with "cycles" and instead pay for their calculations through some kind of "reverse gas" model. This has several benefits. On the one hand, users do not need to own any cryptocurrency to interact with the ICP -- removing a significant barrier to entry. Users do not even need to know that the service they are interacting with is based on decentralized technology, making the process the seamless experience they are used to today. Instead, data centers are paid for their services in ICP tokens. Some of these tokens are used to charge tanks with loops. As computing resources for Internet computers, cycles run out with each tank and must be replenished regularly. The cost of each cycle will be set by the network's governance system and should tend to a stable value over time. The governance system, called the Network Nervous System (NNS), was first revealed by the DFINITY Foundation in September 2020. NNS is responsible for "controlling, configuring, and managing" networks. In order to participate in network governance, users need to lock ICP tokens for a given period of time. This process creates "neurons" that empower users to vote on governance proposals to help shape the network and receive governance rewards

While DFINITY is an independent project, it is not an extremist idea, but a strong supporter of Ethereum. Much of DFINITY's new encryption can be used in the Ethereum network. DFINITY can be seen in part as a sister network to Ethereum, offering developers unusual features such as "AI is law." The goal is to provide smart contract compatibility where possible, so developers don't have to learn new skills, making development easier.

The Internet Computer project is run by one of the broadest teams in the field of cryptography, or to quote DFINITY, it was built by "the industry's preeminent team of distributed computing engineers, cryptographers, and operations specialists." Its development was led by DFINITY founder and Chief scientist Dominic Williams, an experienced entrepreneur and cryptographer who pioneered DFINITY's threshold relay and PSC chain technology.

Unlike Ethereum, which primarily focuses on mobile and technology stacks provided by decentralized applications (DApps) using digital assets such as ETH and ERC-20 tokens, Internet computers are tasked with replacing traditional Internet hubs by assigning special identities to data and transferring governance of ICP to end users. On the one hand, Ethereum uses smart contracts to automate protocols and actions. On the other hand, Internet computers use cans; They are very similar to smart contracts, but super scalable.

The "code is the law" was replaced by the new "AI is the law". Everything on the chain is subject to a disintermediated algorithmic governance system that combines the intelligence of the crowd with traditional AI techniques to freeze malicious smart contracts that harm users (such as the ISIS slave market, with which many companies are reluctant to share networks), Mitigate the impact of hackers on managed systems, dynamically optimize network security and economic tuning parameters, transparently upgrade underlying protocols and software, and do not affect existing users.