Dfinity is finally launching its 'Internet Computer'

After years of hype and anticipation, Dfinity, a decentralized network its creators call the “Internet Computer," is finally going live.

The project, developed by a Switzerland-based not-for-profit called the Dfinity Foundation, was revealed in 2008 and has raised more than $160 million in venture capital. Its developers and promoters claim that the new network can be the basis of a new, decentralized internet.

“At its core, the Internet Computer is the world’s first blockchain that runs at web speed with unlimited capacity — solving the ‘blockchain trilemma’ by producing a blockchain network that is decentralized, secure, and scalable,” reads a press statement from the Dfinity Foundation.

Dfinity features an “algorithmic governance system” that will onboard independent data centers and specially designed “node machines.” As of today, the network is supported by 48 data centers, which are running 1,300 nodes across North America, Europe and Asia, according to the foundation. It adds that by the end of the year there will be 123 data centers running 4,300 nodes.

Dominic Williams, founder and chief scientist for Dfinity, has consistently pitched the network an antidote to what he calls the monopolization of the internet by Big Tech.

“In 10 years, the wider tech community will realize that the Internet Computer is on a trajectory to one day become humanity’s primary compute platform for building software, and the “Open Internet” will predominate over Big Tech’s closed proprietary system,” Williams said in a statement.