DFINITY Foundation

DFINITY is a name for the DFINITY Foundation, or more correctly, “DFINITY Stiftung”, a not-for-profit organization based in Zürich, Switzerland, that was founded in October 2016.

The purpose of DFINITY is to contribute technology to the Internet Computer blockchain, and to support the blockchain's ecosystem and advocate for its mission. DFINITY holds an endowment of ICP tokens, worth several billion dollars, which it sells to fund its operations. While it has no shareholders or members, it acts competitively, like a startup, with a mission to drive a blockchain singularity, in which the majority of humanity’s information systems and services are rebuilt and reimagined upon the Internet Computer using a new form of smart contracts called canisters. DFINITY is held to its purpose, which is defined in its notarial deed, by a regulatory framework operated by the Central Switzerland BVG and Foundation Supervisory Authority (ZBSA).

The organization can be described as Blockchain Maximalist, decentralization forward, and tech forward. DFINITY arguably runs blockchain's largest R&D operation, which employs many famous cryptographers, computer science researchers and senior engineers. It currently employs around 200 full-time personnel, with many working from dedicated research centers in locations including Zürich, Switzerland, and California, with others in remote teams. DFINITY is constantly integrating new talent into its team and scaling its R&D effort. By its own estimates, it will grow to employ thousands of R&D and operations staff in the coming years.

The name DFINITY derives from Decentralized inFINITY, which was first used by its founder Dominic Williams in 2015 to refer to technical research he had performed with the hope of enabling Ethereum to become a true world computer blockchain. Once it became apparent that a large and highly specialized team would need to perform years of blue sky R&D to truly realize the world computer vision, DFINITY become a standalone project. Today, the Internet Computer represents a totally rethought version of public blockchain, which provides many groundbreaking and unmatched capabilities.

DFINITY has become a go-to organization for talented individuals interested in working on the bleeding edge of blockchain.