By Categories: Internet Computer1 min read

The Internet Computer “Mainnet” Launch

The following is a brief summary of the Internet Computer’s “Mainnet” launch. For a detailed overview, have a look at Announcing the Internet Computer “Mainnet”

We’ve previously discussed the evolution of the Internet Computer throughout its four key development stages (Copper, Bronze, Tungsten, and Sodium). On December 18th, 2020, the Internet Computer reached the Mercury stage – the launch of its “mainnet.”

Network bootstrapping of the Internet Computer network took place as a key part of the recent Mercury milestone, the fifth launch milestone in the evolution of the IC.

This day marks the time where the Internet Computer became decentralized by being hosted on independently owned node machines.

Once the mainnet had launched, it performed predefined cryptographic setup routines which activated the NNS – the governance system of the IC.

After it was activated, the NNS started orchestrating network management tasks. This included the addition of new node machines to the network and the upgrade of existing nodes.

Additionally, to initial proposals were processed by the NNS.

Now that the Mercury milestone has been reached, the next “Genesis” step towards full decentralization will be the release of ICP utility tokens.