TikTok, but Decentralized: Dfinity Launches ‘CanCan’

Decentralized cloud computing startup Dfinity has announced its “Internet Computer” is now open to third-party developers.

The firm said in a press release Tuesday it’s already operating on a “network of independent data centers” across the U.S. and Europe, enabling developers and businesses to build and launch their own apps and projects onto the platform.

Projects already being built atop of Dfinity’s Internet Computer include a decentralized payment app as well as a platform for luxury goods. Apps on the platform can also benefit from a native ecosystem fund known as Beacon Fund that is being delivered in conjunction with Polychain Capital.

Dfinity describes its product as “cloud 3.0,” which it claims is a scalable decentralized network that is more efficient than proof-of-work consensus, aka mining.

Dfinity’s “Tungsten” release is aimed at developers, with the firm touting it as a way to disrupt the near-monopolies of big tech companies.

“One of the biggest problems emerging in technology is the monopolization of the internet by big tech companies that have consolidated near-total control over our technologies,” said Dominic Williams, founder and chief scientist at Dfinity. “They collect vast amounts of information about us that they sell for profit and leverage to amass greater market share and acquire or bulldoze rivals at an alarming rate.”

The Internet Computer and its open services, Williams continued, create a way to “reboot the internet creating a public alternative to proprietary cloud infrastructure.”

As part of that process, Dfinity also announced Tuesday it has built a new service called CanCan. The press release said CanCan highlights the “simplicity” of the Internet Computer because it was built with less than 1,000 lines of code, in contrast to Facebook, which took 62 million lines.

Dfinity, which was backed by Andreesen Horowitz’s A16z Crypto fund and Polychain Capital in a $102 million fundraise in 2018, successfully concluded what it said was the largest airdrop ever back in May the same year. The event saw $35 million Swiss franc ($36.1 million) given away in a distribution of its native DFN token.