Dfinity

DFINITY raised $61 million from Andreesen Horowitz and Polychain Capital in a February 2018 funding round.[9] At the time, DFINITY said it wanted to create an "internet computer" to cut the costs of running cloud-based business applications.[10] A further $102 million funding round in August 2018 brought the project's total funding to $195 million.[11][12]

In May 2018, DFINITY announced plans to distribute around $35 million worth of DFINITY tokens in an airdrop. It was part of the company's plan to create a "Cloud 3.0." Because of regulatory concerns, none of the tokens went to US residents.[13]

DFINITY aims to reduce the costs of cloud services by creating a decentralized "internet computer"[14][15] which may launch in 2021 (first announced to launch in 2018).[16]

DFINITY claims transactions on its network are finalized in 3–5 seconds, compared to 1 hour for Bitcoin and 10 minutes for Ethereum.[17][11]

The Internet Computer’s Evolution From Copper to Sodium

COPPER

Copper introduced the first public version of the DFINITY Canister SDK (V0.3.0) as well as Motoko, a new programming language that was optimized for creating tamper-proof software and open internet services for the Internet Computer using WebAssembly (Wasm). [18]

BRONZE

Unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Bronze demonstrated an example of a new class of open internet services that can be powered by the Internet Computer — in this case, a social network for professional profiles called LinkedUp (an open version of LinkedIn) that runs on the Internet Computer.[19]

TUNGSTEN

The Tungsten launch event provides a showcase of the Internet Computer development platform. The presentations included a technical overview of the Internet Computer, demos in Motoko and Rust, and discussions about how decentralized computing architectures represent the next major stage of computer technology, making possible services and applications that create new engines of innovation free from platform risk.[20]

SODIUM

Sodium unveils the Network Nervous System (NNS), an open algorithmic governance system that controls the Internet Computer. The NNS oversees participation in the network, and is responsible for inducting and rewarding data centers. The Sodium launch event will detail how the NNS manages the token economics behind the Internet Computer and explain how ICP tokens will be used for “cycles” and governance.[21]

MERCURY

Mercury will mark the public launch of DFINITY's mainnet. The team planed to reach this stage before the end of 2020.[22]