What’s in store for ICP(Internet Computer) in 2022?
People have mixed feelings over Internet Computer, and this is because ICP has very strong fundamentals yet its price has tanked.
In this article, I’ll try shredding some light on why this might be the case, and how I think forward.
What is Internet Computer(ICP)?
ICP is a relatively new cryptocurrency, that started trading in May of 2021.
On the first day(May 10, 2021), it reached $750.73, falling ever since.
At the time of writing(January 30, 2022), the price per ICP is $20.00.
Clearly, lots of reasons for doubt or plenty of opportunities for money-making.
Sounds interesting? Let’s see who’s behind this project:
Who are the founders of ICP?
- The founder of ICP is Dominic Williams. Dominic is a computer scientist with a strong background in cryptography and a well-known contributor in Bitcoin and Ethereum crypto circles. He is also the founder and chief scientist at DFINITY, a Zurich-based foundation that stands behind Internet Computer.
- Gian Bochsler is a foundation Council Member and overlooks Swiss Operations. He’s a blockchain entrepreneur that co-founded one of the strongest European crypto exchanges(Bity), among other ventures.
- Jan Camenisch is the CTO. A world-renowned crypto scientist, with more than 120 cited scientific papers on cryptography and a research leader in IBM for 19 years.
- Josh Drake, the COO, came from Coinbase, the largest US crypto exchange.
- Michael Lee, Vice President of Communications and a former communications leader in IBM and HP.
- Ben Lynn is another scientist with a scientific background in cryptography and 10 years of working experience as a senior engineer at Google.
- Andreas Rossberg is yet another computer scientist from Google, who co-designed WebAssembly and worked on Google Chrome’s JS engine.
- Johan Granström, another former Google employee, with experience working on Youtube processes of matching.
- and the list goes on and on with high-quality people, which you can check here.
What’s the purpose of ICP?
ICP is a general-purpose blockchain that aims to provide limitless scalability for crypto payments, decentralized applications, and Web3.
Similar to the long list of ICP leaders and contributors, the Internet Computer list of innovative functions and possibilities is just HUGE.
Main stuff can be seen here, and there’s also a nice infographic for those less tech-savvy or more visual types: icig.
Keeping things simple, the main advantage of ICP comes in terms of speed and scalability.
A very interesting article was recently published by Cryptopolitan, comparing the speed and scalability of Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Cardano, and the Internet Computer.
Guess what, ICP turned out to be the absolute winner.
Right below, I’ve compiled a simple table showing the data in an easier to compare manner:
| Criteria/Crypto Network | Ethereum(ETH) | Cardano(ADA) | Solana(SOL) | Avalanche(AVAX) | Internet Computer(ICP) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transactions Per Second(TPS) | 15 | 250 | 2,000 | 4,500 | 11,500 |
| Transaction Finality(in seconds) | 60s-740s | 60s-600s | 21s-46s | 1.6s | 1s |
| Nodes | 5,588 | 3,130 | 1,442 | 1,238 | 414 |
| Scalability | Linear Degradation | Linear Degradation | Linear Degradation(potential for improvement) | Linear Degradation | No Linear Degradation |
What is the table above showing to us?
Even though the ICP has the lowest amount of nodes(due to smaller popularity than those of competitors), it has the highest transactions capacity and the lowest confirmation time for those transactions. Furthermore, it’s the only project with no linear degradation.
And this for me has a strong value and makes me want to invest in ICP(which I already did of course).
The team behind the ICP is strong, but that’s not all. That strength is reflected in ICP products and results.
What’s next for Internet Computer(ICP)?
ICP is still new and needs time to gain traction and get the popularity of its competitors.
And as with any other great project, it will happen with time.
In my opinion, the price of ICP is rather undervalued at the moment and could prove a great opportunity for a safe and sane investment.
One of the great features that should come in March of 2022 or before is the connection of the ICP and a Bitcoin network.
In a nutshell, ICP proposed a way of bringing smart contracts that are secured on the Bitcoin blockchain.
And we’re not talking about theory only, the developer preview is scheduled to get released on Feb 3rd, 2021, 3 PM UTC+1:
Of course, this isn’t a fully working product on the mainnet, but it’s a solid start, as that’s how serious code commitments are tested before going into production.
The fully working Bitcoin connection with ICP is still scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2022(or in other words by March 31, 2022):
To me, ICP pops as one of the best crypto investments in 2022 and going forward. What’s your opinion? :)