Daemon canisters

On the Internet Computer blockchain, you can create canister smart contracts that run like daemon processes — that is, you can configure them so that they are automatically activated by the network itself at specified block intervals.

When smart contracts are hosted by traditional blockchain networks, computations can be only be invoked by submitting a transaction. This means that if, say, a DeFi smart contract needs to periodically perform some action, such as recording the latest asset prices published by DEXs, a traditional off-chain system, such as some software running on a centralized cloud service, say, must be configured to periodically submit a TX.

The approach that must be used on traditional blockchains is complex, fault prone, and introduces other the problems of centralization. For example, who will be responsible for running the centralized infrastructure, and will that person become a de facto "controller" or "owner" of an otherwise decentralized DeFi system in the eyes of regulators?

The Internet Computer provides a means to avoid such problems, by configuring canister smart contracts to be invoked by the blockchain itself, at some specified block interval.