The Dfinity Foundation, after raising over $100 million during the ICO boom in 2018, assembled a team of 200 cryptographers to develop the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP). The mainnet was launched in 2021 with the potential to revolutionize the Web3 space, but it faced numerous challenges, including market manipulations and operational setbacks. However, despite its tumultuous beginnings, the underlying technology of ICP remained robust, though largely unrecognized in the broader Web3 community.
The narrative for ICP began to shift dramatically from October 2023 to January 2024 when the token experienced a surge of 490%, reaching $14.37 from $2.93. This significant rally caught the market’s attention and highlighted ICP’s recent advancements in hosting decentralized applications and AI models.
As a result, the ICP community rapidly expanded and formed a new decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to steer a major Web3 conference series, showcasing ICP’s untapped potential. The ICP ecosystem conference series, known as ICPCC, is scheduled for May 10 and will consist of a nine-hour global livestream and community-organized watch parties in 25 major cities worldwide.
During the ICPCC livestream, the event series will transition into a fully decentralized autonomous organization through a decentralization swap sale. The newly formed entity, ICPCC DAO LLC, will operate as a community-owned, self-sustaining conference event series, celebrating the Internet Computer Protocol and its impact on the broader Web3 space.
One of the highlights of ICPCC24 is the premiere of the documentary “Cracking FTX,” which aims to expose alleged market manipulation during the ICP token launch. The film investigates how the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX used synthetic assets to sabotage Web3 projects, including ICP and Ronin Network. The documentary features interviews with prominent figures in the blockchain and crypto community.
The ICPCC event also welcomes the CLOWN community, a Web3 community that promotes ICP-powered projects. The CLOWN community, led by a stockbroker from New York, has built a thriving team of self-declared “clowns” to fuel various initiatives and create memes promoting different ICP projects.
Another project joining the event is Windoge98, a retro-meets-meme project that brings the look and feel of Microsoft Windows 98 to the blockchain with a “Doge” twist. It offers a functional operating system with playable games hosted on the Internet Computer.
Despite a rocky start, the ICP blockchain has found stability thanks to the Dfinity Foundation’s delivery of promised technology and infrastructure. The ICP ecosystem has integrated with key blockchain protocols and launched a Web3 accelerator platform, attracting over 300 developers and earning a place in the top 5 development activity charts.
The ICPCC24 conference serves as an opportunity for the ICP ecosystem to showcase its growth and demonstrate the potential of bringing emerging technologies like AI to Web3 with a seamless experience.