Transcription
[Music] System or service fully on. Check more than a thousand years of R&D. [Music] effort. Reinvent compute. AI models can run in the mode of smart contracts.
Hello everyone, and thank you for attending our end-of-year World Computer Show. 2024 has been a momentous year for the Internet Computer project, and also for our industry as a whole. 2025 will be pivotal.
This year, we saw the annual growth of on-chain compute on the Internet Computer exceed 500% for the first time, and the ICP token became deflationary several times. That means that the amount of ICP being converted into Cycles to power computation, which gets burned, exceeded those the protocol minted for governance stakers and node providers running the sovereign hardware that hosts the network.
The Internet Computer realizes the world computer vision, where you can build anything on-chain, on the internet's decentralized ecosystem, without recourse to traditional IT. And it remains the only network with anything even resembling these capabilities. Nonetheless, it's a network that adds value to the entire industry, with Chain Key technology enabling new applications like Bitcoin DeFi and allowing web3 services using any chain to fully decentralize and abandon the insecure centralized IT stack.
Furthermore, the project has not sat on its laurels, and the R&D effort that aims to make the network more powerful has become even more focused and ambitious. In the past couple of months, DFINITY succeeded in delivering three hugely important milestones, which unlocked its power further. For example, halving compute transaction latency, which was already the world's lowest in real terms, while also driving scalability to further orders of magnitude beyond traditional blockchain. For example, enabling individual units of network resident code, which are small contracts to you and me, to maintain up to 500 gigabytes of persistent memory, and kicking off our 64-bit execution environment unlock, paving the way, for example, to large language models with huge numbers of parameters running on-chain.
We have also begun to talk about what's happening inside our Skunk Works operations, where long-standing plans to unlock the power of AI have begun to surface, accompanied by demonstrations of powerful AI models running on smart contracts on the network, on our way to the network hosting hardcore large language model inference. But the biggest advance that is coming has perhaps gone unseen.
The Internet Computer project has long directed its funding into a huge R&D effort, strong in the belief that for web3 to mainstream, it must deliver things that radically exceed the realm of speculation enabled by tokens. Say, true decentralization of tech involves any person being able to create and running custom web applications and internet services, web3 functionality, and AI, simply by issuing natural language instructions, and then being able to update them in real time by issuing more natural language instructions. This is a new paradigm, and it's the future of tech.
An individual user will be able to create and update a personal branding website and blog, or a wedding planner, or a game to share with friends. An entrepreneur without funds and technical skills, who perhaps lives in an emerging market, will be able to use nothing but their phone to create a sharing economy internet service with web3 rails. And a business department will be able to create and update custom CRM or ERP enterprise applications, or an AI-powered knowledge base, without recourse to traditional IT and SaaS services. These parties will own the underlying network resident software, though they don't update it themselves, and their custom services will run in a sovereign way on the Internet Computer, and the data will never be held hostage. And they won't suffer the lock-in of the centralized proprietary IT stack. Most importantly, they will get the service they want, and they won't require the permission or help of anyone to evolve and improve it in ways dictated by their imaginations and needs. This is real decentralization with mass market appeal, and this is the new frontier that we have dedicated ourselves to.
The technical challenges involved with having AI create and evolve running services are substantial. It involves a new stack that is built for AI, and that's what I promise you will emerge in 2025. As we move towards releasing new technology under development since 2018, on-chain AI will drive further compute growth because it is compute intensive. But this will be exceeded by a beginning to democratize tech itself on the Internet Computer. And I should emphasize that users will create new on-chain AI functionality by chatting to it, which will drive recursive growth. Users creating custom services by talking to AI will unlock growth that will test the many improvements to the Internet Computer you will hear about today. While our Skunk Works advances will enable the paradigm, for all these reasons, I think 2025 will see an inflection point for the Internet Computer ecosystem and what it offers the world. Enjoy the show, and thank you for listening. Now, I'm going to hand you over to Pierre, who will talk about business. Dev. Bye for now. For me.
You just heard Dom with the powerful vision for the world computer, and in particular, what the intersection of AI and ICP will have in store for 2025. Now, in the following segments, you're going to hear from the entire team, from R&D to ecosystem and marketing. But let me start with a breakdown of the business side of things.
This year has been exceptional. ICP has surged into significant momentum. Metrics like network value, cycles burnt, value locked, developer activity, and user engagement have soared, and in parts, in triple digits. ICP now ranks in the top 10 by network revenue, with industry rankings confirming it as the fastest blockchain with the highest throughput. The growth is rooted in strong focus on our key verticals.
Number one: AI and the dawn of a new paradigm. ICP has become a blockchain of choice for AI innovation, with over 60 projects building AI applications, from on-chain LLMs to proof of humanity credentials. Partnerships like the ETH Zurich AI Center and our contribution to global AI events demonstrate our strong progress in leadership. And with what you just heard from Dom, I can guarantee you, in 2025, this momentum will continue. ICP will emerge as the only platform for the AI-driven internet, where AI builds and updates applications. This will not only open a new paradigm for software creation, but in particular, for the distribution and the monetizing.
Vertical number two: DeFi, empowering Bitcoin builders, and a road to DeFi singularity. ICP runs Bitcoin innovation. I'm very proud to tell you that today, over 40 Bitcoin projects are building Bitcoin DeFi and Bitcoin web3 with ICP technology in the background. This makes ICP the preferred choice for Bitcoin innovation. In addition, the Oylay beta launch, a world's first multi-chain wallet with network custody, is a game-changer. Seamless lock-in and secure asset management across Bitcoin, Ethereum, ICP, bring the industry closer to the idea of DeFi singularity. Join us in anticipation for the launch of Oylay version one in 2025, and get ready for a year packed full with features, including more chain integrations, AI wealth management, and much more.
Vertical number three: Sovereign cloud and sovereign apps. Over 700 sovereign apps are now part of the ICP ecosystem. Developers choose the Internet Computer for its unique ability to host frontend, backend, and data storage entirely on-chain. Sovereign software and sovereign cloud that are immune to cyberattacks are important for everyone, but in particular for governments and enterprises. 2024 was the year of building trust and adoption. We forged key partnerships, like five new institutional custodian providers that now host and offer ICP to their clients, as well as many integrations with important TradFi and data service providers. All of these are very important building blocks to facilitate institutional and retail adoption. And in addition, many dialogues and engagements with governments around the world have fostered trust and a supportive regulatory environment, and in particular, sparked interest in ICP technology. We can't share everything that's in the pipeline yet, but for 2025, expect more of what got us here. The ecosystem is poised for even greater achievements. Expect more partnerships unlocking new markets, more projects and products pushing AI, DeFi, and sovereign software boundaries. Together with developers, business partners, and our global community, ICP will continue to build bigger, faster, and more ambitiously than ever before. The business model for 2025 is simple: more partnerships, more products, more growth, with even greater impact. Thank you, and I now hand over to Tracy to tell you more about the 2024 highlights of our public and institutional engagements.
As Fe just mentioned, I get to recap some of the key highlights of 2024 that showcased the Internet Computer in action. What has made the past 12 months particularly exciting was that we've increasingly broadened our engagement beyond the bounds of web3. With that in mind, let's get started.
We kicked off the year right here in Switzerland with the Crypto Finance Conference, an event that gathers many of the most important players in the institutional digital asset space. This was followed closely by a variety of events surrounding the World Economic Forum in Davos, which famously gathers stakeholders from around the world. These events offer a unique platform to share the Internet Computer and its capabilities with an institutional, enterprise, and government audience, and we look forward to returning in 2025.
In keeping with this theme, we headed to the Web Summit Qatar in February, where Dominic joined our partner Bew Group on stage to discuss our collaboration around the voluntary recycling credits platform built on the IC. For those of you who may remember, the VRC initiative was previously announced at COP28 at the end of last year. The project serves as a key example of how the Internet Computer can host most corporate solutions that rely on transparency and auditability.
Moving on to April, we were pleased to announce a joint partnership between the Knowledge Foundation, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the DFINITY Foundation that introduces a number of global hackathons and coding competitions as part of the UNODC's Coding for Integrity framework. This aims to develop innovative tech applications that support anti-corruption topics. With the first four hackathons completed this year, we look forward to the next set of hackathons already set for 2025.
In May, we celebrated the Internet Computer's third anniversary at our Zurich headquarters, gathering community projects, partners, and more to reflect on three years of community growth and R&D achievements. With the support of organizations like the Greater Zurich Area, the Internet Computer was recognized as a key player in Switzerland's competitive tech landscape.
In June, we showcased the IC capabilities at two distinct conferences. Nexus 2050, Luxembourg's premier gathering of IT and cloud providers, where Dominic's mainstage keynote focused on sovereign cloud technology as a key means for securing government and enterprise data and applications. Meanwhile, our participation at this year's Dice conference gave us the opportunity to showcase the Internet Computer within the context of digital identity solutions.
The second half of the year started strong with the announcement of a joint collaboration between the DFINITY Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in July, announced at the Zero Forum. This ongoing collaboration centers around the launch of a universal trusted credentials platform, which can be utilized by MSMEs in participating countries in order to increase their access to financing options. With this collaboration in full swing, we look forward to launching the first joint POC in 2025.
Hot on the heels of this announcement, we headed to Singapore in September, where we announced yet another collaboration, this time with the Royal Government of Cambodia's Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MISTI). This particular collaboration will support Cambodia in leveraging the Internet Computer to strategically position itself as a key regional player in blockchain, AI, and sovereign cloud technologies.
In October and November, we engaged with policymakers and government officials on three continents at some of the world's leading technology and policy conferences. Starting with the Argentina Tech Forum. This visit included a mainstage keynote from Dominic, as well as high-level meetings with Argentina's pro-blockchain government. Meanwhile, in Europe, Pierre hit the stage at Web Summit Lisbon to showcase the Internet Computer as a secure, trusted, and sovereign environment for AI applications. November concluded with a quick trip to Washington D.C., where we participated in the Summit on the Future of the Internet.
We closed off the year with the December announcement of an exciting industry partnership between the globally renowned ETH Zurich AI Center and the DFINITY Foundation, focusing on joint education, collaboration, and ecosystem opportunities. This partnership marks a significant step in the AI journey that Dom and Pierre laid out earlier, and we look forward to seeing it flourish as our activities unfold in 2025.
And with that, we've officially arrived at the end of the year. We are incredibly grateful for the partners that we've gotten to work with and look forward to continuing our many collaborations into 2025. Of course, we're not slowing down, and we are excited to welcome plenty of new partners in the coming months. Now, let's head on over to Jan and Sam to revisit some of the technical achievements that made 2024 a productive year for our R&D team and the Internet Computer as a whole.
[Music]
2024 was a big year for R&D as well. As Tom mentioned, this year witnessed the first moments when ICP was deflationary. In other words, some subnets were handling a lot of load, making us in R&D very happy. As expected, when unprecedented load occurs, bottlenecks are uncovered and need to be addressed quickly, which we did, culminating in the milestones we celebrated just a few weeks back.
Talking about milestones, and as this is the 2024 World Computer Show, let's take a step back and have a look at the ICP roadmap. In spring, we revamped the ICP roadmap, highlighting the contributions that R&D makes to the Internet Computer protocol in different focus areas. Those include core protocol, AI capabilities, decentralization efforts, digital assets, identity, dev tooling, and governance improvements. The initial roadmap contained 12 milestones, and eight of them have been reached and celebrated by now. The roadmap is a great way to tell the world what we're working on and illustrates the huge ambition of the world computer.
As we speak, we are defining additional milestones for next year and we'll update the roadmap soon. Here's some teaser on things we are working on right now and that we will see on ICP early next year, provided the NNS results along. Anticipative feature is Vet Keys. It is a means for managing cryptographic keys and allows one to encrypt data on-chain, an important building block for creating privacy-preserving applications and a key ingredient for sovereign world computer.
Canister migration is another important capability that we expect to land in the next few months. This allows developers to move their canisters between subnets and thus to manage load. The last teaser is an overhaul of Internet Identity. Onboarding will become much easier, drawing on the latest web auth and standards. Also, the relationship between identity, means of authentication, and wallets will be much clearer and more intuitive.
Let's go back to what we shipped this year. Only a few months ago, ICP produced the 4 billionth block at a rate of about 72 blocks per second. ICP has performed more computation and stored more data than the rest of the industry combined. This is a testament to how far we have progressed towards our bold vision. ICP is far more powerful and universal than just a glorified token ledger. We built the world computer, and we envision a world where people are backing control of their data, their compute, their identity, and their digital assets. A world where people enjoy digital sovereignty.
As in previous years, ICP performed outstandingly. There were a few operational incidents, but the overall trend of incidents continues to go down year over year. This year, the Internet Computer continued to grow. 16 new node providers were added by the NNS, this is an increase of 86%. Node machines are now distributed to over 31 countries in 110 different data centers, about three times as many as last year. ICP is now even more fault-tolerant, resilient, and unstoppable. In a few weeks, the edge infrastructure called boundary nodes will be put under NNS control, another important decentralization milestone.
2024 was also a year of heavy voting. More than 72,000 NNS proposals were created and voted on. That was hard work, and we're delighted to be part of this very active NNS community. Both the number of node neurons and the scrutiny of proposal evaluation increased. For example, our replica notes substantially improved based on community feedback. In the coming weeks, neuron holders will be asked to periodically confirm the following of their neurons. This addresses an adopted motion proposal asking neuron holders to be more active and to lower the voting power of passive neurons.
The NNS is not the only DAO on Internet Computer. There are also various SNS, which started to bloom this year. ICP DAOs dominate the top 10 of DAOs worldwide. Lsh will tell us more about them later.
Almost exactly a year ago, the first cEUS to was created as a twin to ETH on ICP. This enables smart contracts on ICP to transact ETH fast and cheaply, and we've seen 700,000 transactions already. While ETH is cool, there are a bunch of other interesting tokens on ETH, namely stablecoins such as USDC, USDT, and meme coins such as Pepe and Shiba. Building ICP twins of these tokens is slightly more complicated because of how gas works on Ethereum, but no hard problem can stop R&D. cUSDC and USDT appeared on ICP in May. Now, the 12 most important Ethereum tokens are available on ICP. Representing tokens from other chains on ICP is just one aspect of Chain Fusion.
Chain Fusion is a toolbox and a strong narrative that really took foot in 2024. It enables smart contracts on ICP to interact with other chains and to control their assets directly. This year, we added the EVM RPC canister, providing a canister-based API to interact with Ethereum. Moreover, we added two more threshold signature schemes: Schnorr, which is used for inscriptions on Bitcoin, and EdDSA, which is used by Solana. DFINITY organized multiple Chain Fusion Days in tandem with big crypto conferences. Chain Fusion as a brand worked really well. People now see ICP as a powerful web3 building block that augments projects and dApps on other chains. Chain Fusion has become instrumental to many new and impressive projects, such as Omnity. To accelerate and extend adoption, we will implement secure interactions with additional chains in the coming months.
Everyone spoke about AI this year. I'm sure you remember the two exciting demos by Dom running AI models in smart contracts. One recognized a Porsche convertible, and the other one performed face recognition. Of course, we know that AI can do such things and more. The impressive part here is that these AI models were executed as a canister smart contract. These demos really demonstrate the power of ICP smart contracts. No one comes even close to this. On the honor, this was enabled by a number of protocol developments throughout the year, more precisely by extending the capabilities of ICP's runtime environment for the 60-plus AI projects that are currently building on ICP. I have good news: more stuff is coming that will allow for even larger AI models. If that is not exciting enough, have a coffee and wait for next year, then you will see how AI will make building on ICP way easier.
Before launch, the entire team was heads down building the core protocol. This year, DFINITY still dedicated about half of R&D's resources to the core protocol. The other half is increasingly focusing on products and services that interface more directly with developers and end users. With this, user and developer experience has become front and center. An example is ICP Ninja, a web-based smart contract editor. With Ninja, you can edit smart contracts and deploy them with a single click. You don't have to download or install anything. This removes friction and helps to onboard more quickly. We're also shifting gears in the entire dev tool chain. Expect to see bigger changes next year.
2024 was another highly productive year. We only covered the tip of the iceberg here. A huge shout out to the team. Big thanks for all the hard work you've done. Also, big thanks to all the ecosystem projects and builders out there. You are our motivation. The best person to talk more about the ICP ecosystem is Lsh, who's up next.
The ICP ecosystem has already crossed $750 million in fully diluted market cap and is well on a path to cross a billion dollars soon. A key metric for ICP success is how effectively the network can empower sustainable economies. The ability for ecosystem teams to create treasuries and maintain stay power is a key indicator that we are moving in the right direction. It signals that the teams have the resources to focus on innovation and to bootstrap new economic activity on the IC network. ICP is attracting talented developers who see its potential. They're willing to take bold risks, leaving full-time jobs at top companies to bring their ideas to life using ICP. ICP offers these entrepreneurs several solid capabilities.
A key ICP superpower is Chain Fusion. The Chain Fusion subnet saw over 1700% uptick in messages and over 1300% increase in the cycle burn rate, a key indicator for network usage. For the overall network, the cycle burn rate grew over seven times this year. Today, just a small set of applications have contributed to this significant jump. Now, imagine what's possible as these applications scale and more projects emerge. The potential for innovation on ICP is truly limitless, and we are just getting started.
Moving on to SNS, the most favored path for ICP founders to delegate the control of their applications to the community. The momentum for new projects decentralizing through the SNS continued this year, but the community is also becoming more and more demanding from the teams and making them more and more accountable, which is amazing to see. Meanwhile, the existing SNS teams continue to scale actively. Teams like Open Chat have already reached over 15,000 daily active users, while the ID has reached over 25,000 verified credentials for proof of unique humanity and is already expanding to other chains like Solana, showcasing success stories of the ecosystem is the most effective way to attract attention to our ecosystem, whether through mainstream media, exchanges, or web3 platforms. These stories inspire new entrepreneurs and users to explore what the ICP ecosystem has to offer. When we highlight the achievements of our builders, we are not just celebrating their success; we are building credibility, attracting attention, and driving adoption of ICP on a global scale.
One of the most exciting aspects of ICP's growth is the sheer breadth of use cases being built on the network today. Take meme coins, for example. Bob and Burn on ICP. They're not just clones of existing ideas. Our DeFi projects, think of interoperability as stable stakes, and our AI integrations aren't an afterthought; they're baked into the DNA of these dApps. This level of innovation sets ICP apart. It's not just about creating dApps; it's about pushing the limits of what decentralized applications can achieve. ICP offers an unparalleled advantage that empowers builders to create products with mass appeal. In their own words, these entrepreneurs see ICP as a platform where they can break new ground and build things that weren't possible before. As we look into 2025, I can't wait to see all the amazing things that these talented builders will create, from transformative applications to thriving economies. We are proving that ICP is more than a blockchain; it's a new decentralized internet where the pioneers are working to shape the future.
Now, I would like to invite my colleague Emilio, our Head of Global Adoption, to describe the grassroots moments that have been driving our ICP ecosystem adoption.
Thanks Lsh for these great insights about growth in 2024, which definitely show how the world computer mission is reaching new heights. The world computer thrives within a robust decentralized global ecosystem that revolves around the dynamic network of hubs. ICP Hubs have indeed emerged as powerful catalysts that drive growth and adoption for the ecosystem and the community. They provide an inclusive environment for enthusiasts, professionals, builders, developers to collaborate and transform their ideas into real initiatives and projects. And before I go any further, I just want to say how proud we all are with the ICP Hub ecosystem, which represents our vision for a true global footprint, where global stands for a united mission of the world computer, while the local component guarantees that the action remains approachable and meaningful to people.
In 2024, ICP Hubs spearheaded over 1,200 in-person events, including the groundbreaking Chain Fusion Hubs and Hacker Houses, from Brussels to Bali, from Singapore to Seoul and Bangkok. Chain Fusion Hubs united nearly 10,000 participants, hundreds of industry leaders, and over 400 developers going through an immersive multi-day ICP hackathon experience. Complementing this, 2024 saw the success of three major global community town halls hosted by ICP Hubs regional accounts. These marathon events lasted 24 to 40 hours, featuring an impressive range of speakers and keynotes, and attracting hundreds of thousands of participants worldwide. Vital is the key word here, defining a year of explosive engagement where ICP Hubs bridged the physical and digital interaction.
Education was also a major focus in 2024. From professional online seminars to university curricula to large initiatives such as Indonesia on Chain, efforts have been in full swing. Indonesia on Chain is an initiative coordinated by ICP Hub Indonesia in partnership with four ministries, aiming to implement university courses dedicated to the web3 economy and ICP-focused development. Furthermore, ICP Hubs have launched several bootcamps and more than 100 hackathons globally in 2024. These efforts culminated in a substantial number of devs trained, 5,500, and even more builders enabled to start their initiatives on the Internet Computer.
Down the adoption funnel, let's have a look at the incubation and acceleration efforts done by ICP Hubs in 2024. The Olympus platform, the first on-chain web3 acceleration platform connecting founders, investors, mentors, and talents across different ecosystems, was launched with 22 selected cohorts globally, running in coordination with ICP Hubs and their partners. That includes over 20 DCs, 50 mentors, and service providers, which are working on nurturing the next generation of successful founders and projects in our ecosystem. The innovative aspect here is the unique framework. While early-stage projects can benefit from the proximity with old DCs, the platform and the Hubs network allow for a pool cross-pollination on a global scale. The key message here is build locally and scale globally, which fully embodies the decentralized yet global nature of the world computer.
Going even further in terms of impact, the Internet Computer ecosystem is currently enjoying great momentum, which is reflected in a thriving business environment revolving around the work of ICP Hubs. Thanks to the open and inclusive nature of the program, regional ICP chapters nurture the right relationships and explore the best opportunities to grow the ecosystem through successful collaborations. To take one example, it's worth mentioning here the remarkable efforts played in Latin America by ICP Hubs for the implementation of crypto circular economies involving multiple communities and universities. Another very interesting case is the ecosystem partnership with the Osmosis DEX on Cosmos. It enables cKBTC, a Bitcoin twin on the Internet Computer, to seamlessly flow cross-chain via the Omnity network, leveraging Chain Fusion technology. This is a great leap forward for both ecosystems. With a vibrant business environment, a growing developer activity, combined with strong educational initiatives and unparalleled community engagement, the Internet Computer is clearly poised for a great start of 2024.
And with that said, I'll leave it to Dominic Williams, Founder and Chief Scientist of DFINITY Foundation, to wrap it up with his final remarks.
Wow, that was quite the show. It's time to wrap up. You've been hearing from some amazing DFINITY colleagues who've been going over developments in '24 and hopefully you got some hint about what's coming in 2025. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say thank you to all of the amazing DFINITY team members and ICP community members who work tirelessly in many different ways to make the world computer dream possible. If you're listening and you're new to the project, I invite you to join us because this is important work, and we're stronger together. All right, bye for now and see you.