In a significant stride towards decentralization within the Internet Computer (ICP) blockchain ecosystem, The DFINITY Foundation, a renowned Swiss not-for-profit organization, has unveiled its Protocol Ecosystem Report 2023. This report underscores the commitment of community members, who have collectively pledged over 6.5 million ICP tokens, equivalent to nearly $80 million USD, through the innovative Service Nervous System (SNS) framework.

The substantial contribution serves as a testament to the growing momentum behind efforts to democratize and decentralize the core protocols underpinning the Internet Computer, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of blockchain technology. In this article, we will break down everything you need to know about the latest data published in the Protocol Ecosystem Report 2023.

More About Internet Computer?

The Internet Computer is a powerful general-purpose blockchain and web3 platform. Its protocols apply advanced cryptography and computer science to scale smart contract data storage and computation without limit, host web-speed smart contracts that can directly serve web experiences to end users without the cloud, and run smart contracts with breakthrough levels of efficiency.

Developers can create truly decentralized dapps and services that run entirely from the blockchain, push into emerging areas such as SocialFi and GameFi, which blend social media and game functionality with DeFi, and build out the fully decentralized metaverse.

The Internet Computer blockchain acts as a complete alternative technology stack, which has been designed to replace the centralized IT stack that is mostly controlled by Big Tech, and it can even be used to build secure and unstoppable websites and enterprise systems. It was incubated and launched by the DFINITY Foundation. 

Almost $80 Million Committed

Protocol Ecosystem Report 2023

Swiss not-for-profit organization The DFINITY Foundation, a major contributor to the Internet Computer (ICP) blockchain, has released its Protocol Ecosystem Report 2023, highlighting that community members have committed more than 6.5 million ICP tokens — nearly $80 million — via the innovative Service Nervous System (SNS) framework to help decentralize the ecosystem’s top protocols. 

Unique to the ICP, the SNS model allows protocols to become fully decentralized by turning into Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). On a high level, an SNS DAO governs a decentralized application (dapp), deciding on the code of that dapp and how it is evolved. 

SNS Community Tokenomics

On the Internet Computer, this can also include the dApps data and frontend. Each SNS community can also choose its own unique tokenomics and governance rules by parameters that can be set for each SNS DAO. This way developers can hand over the control of their protocols to their communities, allowing users to freely propose and vote on all changes made to a dapp.  

To initiate this process of decentralization, community members need to commit ICP tokens to projects’ SNS proposals via so-called decentralization swaps. This way users committed over 6.5M ICP — or nearly $80M — to dapps in the ICP ecosystem in 2023, enabling these projects to become fully community-governed.

Growing Ecosystem

Among these dApps are decentralized messenger OpenChat, Neopets’ successor Dragginz, blockchain-native search engine Kinic, “Web3 TikTok” Hot or Not, the first ICP memecoin Ghost, decentralized “verification as a service” platform Modclub, fully on-chain gaming-focused BOOM DAO, innovative social app Catalyze, and others.

Notably, the report also showed tremendous growth in gaming activity, free from the high gas fees and limited scalability of traditional platforms. For example, Dragginz, launched by the creators of Neopets, has already grown to a community-driven market cap of over $8 million by offering an immersive world where every aspect of the gameplay is built directly on the blockchain.

“The success of the SNS framework has been a big win for decentralized governance worldwide, and through its innovative tech stack and multiple network integrations, the ICP is unlocking access to a seamless, trustless multichain future for web3,” noted Lomesh Dutta, Vice President of Growth at DFINITY.

Over 200 Projects Funded

Additionally, DFINITY distributed $6.25 million in ecosystem grants to 239 projects spanning 41 countries in 2023. This Developer Grants Program aims to catalyze the growth of the Internet Computer ecosystem and make the ecosystem accessible and approachable to more developers around the world by providing support to promising teams.

Among the grantees were protocols such as new multi-chain DeFi solution IC Lighthouse, self-custodial identity provider and key management protocol NFID, data processing layer Chainsight, decentralized data oracle provider Orally, decentralized multi-chain and multi-owner wallet B3Pay, groundbreaking hybrid spot orderbook decentralized exchange Helix Markets, retail Bitcoin mining-focused platform Loka Mining, and many others.

The IC network usage also increased by 121% over the past year broadly across most subnets, suggesting a constant ecosystem-wide growth. A full copy of the Internet Computer's State of the Network report is available here.