Internet Computer community members pledged almost $80 million worth of Internet Computer (ICP) tokens to help decentralize protocols in the ecosystem last year. 

Contributor to the Internet Computer network, the DFINITY Foundation, released its 2023 protocol ecosystem report on March 27, revealing that the community committed more than 6.5 million ICP tokens to decentralization efforts.

The pledge has been made by the Internet Computer’s Service Nervous System (SNS) framework, which allows protocols to become decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

ICP projects and dapps that received funding through SNS decentralization include decentralized messenger OpenChat, metaverse platform Dragginz, blockchain search engine Kinic, “Web3 TikTok” Hot or Not, the first ICP memecoin Ghost, decentralized verification-as-a-service platform Modclub, on-chain gaming platform BOOM DAO, and social dapp Catalyze.

“The success of the SNS framework has been a big win for decentralized governance worldwide, through its innovative tech stack and multiple network integrations,” commented Lomesh Dutta, Vice President of Growth at DFINITY.

The DFINITY Foundation also reported tremendous growth in blockchain gaming activity on Internet Computer, which it said was due to low transfer fees and high scaling capabilities.

Additionally, DFINITY distributed $6.25 million in ecosystem grants to 239 projects across 41 countries in 2023 to support the growth of the ICP ecosystem. Overall network usage on ICP increased by 121% year-over-year, indicating constant ecosystem-wide growth, according to the report.

Decentralized finance on ICP has also seen steady growth this year, with total value locked increasing 24% to $27 million since Jan. 1, according to DefiLlama.

ICP surges after pivot to AI

ICP prices have been on fire over the past few days after the network revealed its latest advancements in the realm of artificial intelligence.

In a March 22 post on X, DFINITY CEO Dominic Williams posted a video demonstrating what he claims was a world-first: “quite a sophisticated AI running on blockchain” as a smart contract on the Internet Computer.

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“AI will become the beating heart of our web3, multi-chain world, and this is only my first demo,” he said.

ICP prices surged 50% since the announcement and reached a two-year high of just under $20 on March 26, according to CoinGecko. However, the asset remains down 97% from its May 2021 all-time high of $700.

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