Thread by @BobBodily

I think #ICP will be a top 3 coin.

But to get there, we have a TON of work to do.

Here are the top 20 problems we need to prioritize and solve to build a better future for the #IC

🧵👇

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 😀