Recap: The Internet Computer’s Mercury Genesis Launch Event
Genesis marks the Internet Computer’s public launch, representing a giant leap for blockchain and the internet ecosystem.
The Internet Computer is the world’s first blockchain that runs at web speed with unbounded capacity. Bitcoin created the immutable ledger; Ethereum developed smart contracts and pioneered DeFi. The Internet Computer is the third major blockchain innovation — a blockchain that scales smart contract computation and data, runs them at web speed, processes and stores data efficiently, and provides powerful software frameworks to developers. By making this possible, the Internet Computer enables the complete reimagination of how systems and services operate.
On May 10, in a giant leap for blockchain and the internet ecosystem, the Internet Computer’s Mercury Genesis milestone transitioned the network into fully public mode.
At a special launch event held three days earlier, DFINITY Founder and Chief Scientist Dominic Williams and members of the Foundation’s research and development staff explained the novel cryptography and architecture that allow the Internet Computer to extend the functionality of the global internet so that it can host software, transforming it into a public computer that empowers developers and entrepreneurs worldwide.
Genesis marks a new beginning for developers and entrepreneurs who are ready to build the future. Start building at sdk.dfinity.org and join our developer community at forum.dfinity.org.
Following below are presentations and talks from the Mercury Genesis Launch Event:
Welcome to the Internet Computer Mercury Genesis Launch Event (Dominic Williams)
DFINITY Founder and Chief Scientist Dominic Williams thanks the audience for supporting the DFINITY Foundation in the journey to reach this moment.
Opener | History of the Internet
The internet is one of humanity’s greatest inventions: A public, decentralized network of networks that the world uses to communicate and share information. Take a trip back through key moments in the history of the public internet — culminating in the launch of the Internet Computer.
Talk | An Overview of the Internet Computer (Dominic Williams)
The DFINITY Foundation was created to extend the functionality of the public internet to become the primary blockchain on which humanity builds its information systems. A team composed of many of the world’s top cryptographers, computer scientists, and engineers has developed the Internet Computer as an advanced, novel blockchain that eliminates the need for legacy technologies such as cloud services, databases, and firewalls. The Internet Computer ultimately allows entrepreneurs and developers to reimagine both how and what they build — a paradigm shift that will change everything.
Forbes Event Recap: The Open Internet Boom
The DFINITY Foundation and Forbes were joined by tech visionaries Joseph Lubin (Ethereum, ConsenSys), Cindy Cohn (EFF), Jim Zemlin (Linux Foundation), Brad Templeton (ClariNet) and Alan Emtage (Archie) for a special event to discuss this pivotal moment in the internet’s evolution — the Open Internet Boom.
Talk | Inside the Internet Computer: Chain Key Cryptography (Jan Camenisch)
Chain Key cryptography is one of the fundamental breakthroughs enabling the Internet Computer to scale to millions of nodes. The most notable innovation of Chain Key cryptography is that the Internet Computer has a single public key, which enables any device to verify the authenticity of artifacts generated by the Internet Computer, even smart watches and mobile phones.
Read more here…
Talk | Inside the Internet Computer: Consensus (Manu Drijvers)
Since the Internet Computer runs on a network of nodes in independent data centers located around the world, all subnets must process the same messages in the same order to ensure that they achieve the same state. To ensure that the nodes powering the subnets can agree on the order of messages to process, the Internet Computer relies on a novel consensus protocol, as described in this presentation.
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Talk | Inside the Internet Computer: Noninteractive Distributed Key Generation (Jens Groth)
Noninteractive Distributed Key Generation (NIDKG) is a new, noninteractive key resharing protocol. Each of the old signers only needs to broadcast a single message to the new signers. To ensure that this is done securely, many concepts from advanced cryptography are utilized, including encryption with forward secrecy and noninteractive zero-knowledge proofs. Throughout the lifetime of a subnet, it is known by a single public key, and the other parties on the Internet Computer do not have to keep track of changing public keys.
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Talk | Inside the Internet Computer: Web Authentication and Identity (Björn Tackmann)
Today, the main means of identity and authentication used online are usernames and passwords. The Internet Computer has replaced this model with a more advanced and secure method of cryptographic authentication, as described in this talk.
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Demo | Internet Identity: The End of Usernames and Passwords (Dominic Williams & Joachim Breitner)
This demo showcases the scientific breakthrough called Internet Identity. Imagine a world without ever needing a username and password or touching cryptographic key material. Imagine a world where users are no longer tracked across internet services. Imagine a world where managing your online identity is exponentially easier and safer than it is today.
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Demo | Open Chat: The Decentralized Chat App of the Future (Matt Grogan & Hamish Peebles)
This demo provides a walkthrough of an open, decentralized chat application that is built on the Internet Computer with end-to-end cryptographic security using the breakthrough authentication technology called Internet Identity.
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Demo | CanCan: Exploring Tokenization in an Open Internet Service (Andrew Wylde & Brendan Foley)
This demo explores how tokenization in decentralized apps built on the Internet Computer creates a growth flywheel for developers and entrepreneurs. CanCan, an open, scalable video-sharing dapp developed by the DFINITY Foundation as a sample app, illustrates how builders can use tokens to attract, incentivize, and retain users for their innovative app ideas.
Read more here…
Demo | Developer Onboarding (Stanley Jones)
This demo shows how developers can start deploying their software onto the Internet Computer.
Demo | Deploying Static Sites to the Internet Computer in Less Than 5 Steps (Taylor Ham)
This demo shows how to quickly deploy an existing static website to the Internet Computer.
Demo | Zero to Fullstack: Web Apps on the Internet Computer (Kyle Peacock)
This demo walks through a step-by-step example of building a front-end application on the Internet Computer while showcasing some exciting new features that are supported by the platform. The workflow will be approachable to engineers who are already familiar with hosting static assets on Netlify, Fastly, or S3 buckets.
Talk | Motoko: A Programming Language for Building Directly on the Internet (Andreas Rossberg)
Motoko, a new programming language optimized for WebAssembly and the Internet Computer, offers a seamless developer experience designed to directly support the programming model of the Internet Computer — making it easier to efficiently build applications and take advantage of the revolutionary features of the Internet Computer.
TechCrunch Event Recap: Exploring Entrepreneurship in the Open Internet Boom
When it comes to blockchain startups, the company building narrative that Silicon Valley has come to know and love is flipped on its head. This event, in partnership with TechCrunch, covers what founders need to know about building big startups without big tech. Teams behind funded companies building on the Internet Computer share insights from their experience creating services for the open web. We hear from the founders behind Fleek, Capsule, Tacen, and Distrikt, as well as general partners at Polychain Capital, about what pitching, product ideation, hiring, fundraising, and exiting are like for startups building in this pioneering sector.
Talk | Inside the Internet Computer: Network Nervous System (Lara Schmid)
The Network Nervous System (NNS) is an open algorithmic governance system that controls the Internet Computer network. A few of its most notable innovations are its ability to upgrade the protocol and software used by the node machines, onboard new node operators and machines into the network, and create new subnets (aka blockchains) to increase network capacity. Most importantly, the NNS works by accepting proposals and deciding to adopt or reject them based on voting activity by thousands of “neuron” holders.
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Talk | Internet Computer: Tokenomics (Dominic Williams)
A quick overview of the tokenomics governing the Internet Computer network, where ICP utility tokens can be 1) staked inside the Network Nervous System (NNS) to create “voting neurons” that allow tens of thousands of Internet Computer token holders to control the NNS and thus the entire network, as well as 2) converted into “cycles” to pay for computation — using a reverse-gas model, which frees users from needing tokens to interact with hosted systems and services.
Demo | Network Nervous System: Tens of Thousands of People Governing the Internet Computer (Dominic Williams & David Millar-Durrant)
This demo explains how to lock up ICP utility tokens into neurons and participate in NNS governance on the Internet Computer.
Read more here…
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