Here are the top 20 problems we need to prioritize and solve to build a better future for the #IC
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1. Node providers are too centralized
The node provider application process is too long/slow. Once anyone, anywhere can be a node provider, then we will truly have a decentralized worldwide computer.
2. Boundary nodes are too centralized
There are a limited number of boundary nodes right now and all IC traffic flows through the boundary nodes. We need to increase the number of boundary nodes and allow anyone to host one.
3. Protocol changes in NNS are too centralized
With follower relationships, Dfinity owns basically all protocol change power, so Dfinity can push whatever they want whenever they want. I want multiple independent entities working on the protocol and more diversity in followers
4. Limited privacy w/ node providers
Node providers can peak into their machines and view the state hosted on their machine. This means privacy for data on the IC is only partial privacy. We need secure enclaves to ensure complete and total privacy.
5. Protocol leadership is too centralized
Dom (leading Dfinity) has a massive influence on the future direction of the protocol. We need many more independent people with a similar level of influence involved in protocol leadership to better decentralize protocol development.
6. Chain integrations aren't secure enough
As more BTC/ETH gets sent to the IC, the greater the incentive for node providers to collude to get the private key to steal funds. We need more much better security to protect these funds held with subnet private keys
7. Getting started as an IC dev is still too hard
There are many caveats, gotchas, and developer tricks to getting started building on the IC. We need to make it incredibly easy with the most amazing developer experience.
8. Upgrading canisters is too painful
Safer upgrading processes, stable storage data structures, and better upgrading logic would help protect canister data and ensure flexibility of canister smart contracts moving forward. It should be extremely easy for a dev to do this.
9. No easy way to scale a database
I don't want to have to think about multi-canister or multi-subnet scaling. I just want to throw data at a smart contract and have it scale efficiently forever. This should be our goal and anything less than this is a miss.
10. The #IC community isn't receptive to criticism
I've seen instances where smart devs from other chains voice legitimate/valid concerns about ICP, but ICP maxis discount their concerns and ridicule them. We need to be more collaborative as a community for broader adoption.
11. All on the IC or bust attitude isn't helpful
We need to meet people where they are and show how the IC complements every chain:
- Mint NFTs on ETH but host assets on the IC
- Have smart contracts on SOL but host frontends on the IC
- Hold BTC on the IC and get yield
12. Projects only market within the IC community
You almost don't have to do any marketing to get noticed within the #IC community right now. But very few projects try to appeal to a more broader Web2 or Web3 audience. We need much MUCH more of this kind of marketing.
13. We have too many hype projects
Real world businesses interface with the world and solve problems for real people. Hype projects just take ICP with vague roadmap promises for the future. We need more substance in IC projects.
14. The roadmap for the IC protocol is too centralized
We need multiple independent entities evaluating what needs to be built at the protocol layer, helping decide what is best for the protocol from their own perspectives. It is far too centralized right now.
15. Interoperability and standards are a mess right now
We need widely accepted standards with broad adoption across the ecosystem. Interoperability is a huge pain right now as people juggle tokens between wallets trying to figure out how to get airdrops and find tokens.
16. There is too much competition and not enough collaboration
The more we collaborate and work together, the more killer dApps we'll build on the IC together. As we do that, the IC grows, and the pie gets bigger for everyone. We need to work together more and compete less.
17. IC marketing doesn't have enough substance
Almost all marketing for the IC focuses on the 5-10 year vision of the IC, not the version we have right now. We need to have more realistic marketing claims to have more credibility among the Web3 developer community.
18. It is too hard to use the NNS
Staking ICP in the NNS is one of the first things people do on the IC. But UX isn't good. There are too many buttons everywhere and too many clicks to get through. We need simple UX to start, and simple UX to manage moving forward.
19. Governance proposals in the NNS are mostly useless
Voting on what happens off chain doesn't do anything. We need to decentralize protocol governance in more effective ways: more named neurons, special proposal-type-dedicated committees, or independent non-profit entities
20. Design and UX on the IC is generally very bad
IC apps need top tier design and UX. We have the potential to have the easiest to use and best looking apps in all of crypto, but we haven't risen to that standard yet. We need to.
Social media posts on the IC almost exclusively focus on the positives of the IC, so I thought it was time for a critical look at ALL of the things we still need to work on
To be clear, there is work going on trying to solve almost all of these points, but we're not there yet.
What did I miss? What do you think we need to do to improve the #IC?
I likely won't do another thread like for a while, so let's get out all of the criticisms now so we can come together to solve these problems moving forward π
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Based on voting data, the NNS vote on the ICRC-1 token standard was a true #ICP community vote, and it was widely accepted by almost everyone in the community. This means ICRC-1 will be the #ICP fungible token standard for the future.
If you disagree, let's look at the dataπ
VOTING DATA
Named Neurons
- ICPMN voted yes (4%)
- Cycle DAO voted yes (6% and follows ICPMN)
- ICDevs voted yes (6%)
- Dfinity voted yes (24%)
You might dislike named neurons having such a high percentage of the vote. I agree the NNS isn't as decentralized and it should be and we need more named neurons.
But even if you just take individuals (NO named neurons) the vote is 7% to 1.8%, still a win by a large margin.
I've worked with over 150 NFT projects over the past year. Throughout this process, I analyzed the utility each project provided to their holders and synthesized it all into a new Utility NFTs Framework π€π
Let's dive in! π§΅π
The framework consists of 5 areas of utility, each one building on the next, meaning layers at the bottom are foundational to the ones that come at the top.
5. Transformative Use Cases 4. NFTs You Can Use 3. Benefits to Holders 2. Community Belonging 1. Art & Collectibles
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1. Art & Collectibles
The foundation for utility is artwork. Every NFT collection should have unique, beautiful art
Art is important because you can express your identity and emotionally connect with art
Art as utility is enough for some projects, but most need to push further
Time for some stats on the sad sad tale of the ICProposalDAO rug from this week
599 unique wallet addresses sent ICP
8 ICP sent on average per wallet
7659.32 ICP stolen in the rug (straight to exchange)
230+ ICP sent by each of the top 5 wallets
1 disheartened ICP community
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So what can we do? Well, we can't get the ICP back. But we do still have some options.
1) We could report them to exchanges who could potentially freeze their wallets and/or aid in prosecution. This is straight up fraud and can be prosecuted. Has anyone done this already?
2) We could be extraordinarily nice to those that did get rugged. I have a list of wallet addresses and the amount of ICP they lost, and as a community, we could use the list as a "rugged" airdrop list of sorts. Maybe we add ICTuts minters to the list too...?
It is extremely easy to scam people in crypto, and since growth = opportunity, much more of this will be coming to the #IC ecosystem very soon
So let's dive into best practices to protect yourself from would be scammers on the IC π§΅π
1. NEVER give anyone your seed phrase.
Giving someone your seed phrase gives them unlimited access to your wallet. Essentially complete ownership. So best practice is NEVER give anyone your seed phrase.
2. NEVER add a device to your internet identity unless you absolutely 100% trust it
Adding someone as a device gives them complete control over your entire internet identity. Apps, NNS, wallets, etc.
There are quite a few name services popping up on the Internet Computer right now: @icnsid@ic_naming and others.
These services remap an ICP address to a human readable ".icp" name.
But what exactly is an IC name service? And how should we proceed as an #IC ecosystem? π§΅π
A name service is as simple as an object mapping ICP addresses to human readable ".icp" addresses. This means that (if supported) I could receive ICP at bob.icp instead of some crazy long ICP address. This is convenient and makes it less likely to mistype an address.
The biggest and most widely used name service on Ethereum is ENS. And Coinbase supports it. So this is how it works.
1. Go send ETH on Coinbase 2. Put in my ENS 3. Coinbase looks up the actual address from the ENS and enters it into the send field auto-magically
NFTs on the Internet Computer are going to be huge. Core benefits for IC NFTs over other chains: 1. All assets on chain 2. No gas fees to mint/transact 3. Cheap storage costs ($5/GB/year)
This lets us do all sorts of crazy things with NFTs. Here comes a mega-thread π₯
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1. The Mystery Box NFT
Wrap 8-year staked neurons, DKT tokens, DSCVR tokens, and ICP into a single NFT. Then transfer ownership of all assets in a single transaction.
You could even set rules for under what conditions the NFT could be wrapped (age, social verification, etc.)
2. The AI NFT
Put @OpenAI's GPT-3 model in an NFT, and have it fine tune over time based on your interactions.
You are essentially training it to be a personal assistant, which could then be helpful to you or marketed/sold (easily transferred) to others.