ICP vs NEAR: Tech Feud Escalates Over Web3 AI Claims

A Growing Rivalry in the Web3 AI Ecosystem

The rivalry between Internet ComputerICP-3.52% and NEAR ProtocolNEAR-3.11% has taken a sharp turn into legal territory. DFINITY Foundation founder Dominic Williams has publicly accused NEAR Protocol of using proprietary technology developed by the ICP team.

At the center of this clash are allegations involving intellectual property, former employees, and competing visions for decentralized artificial intelligence. The debate has split crypto developers and investors into two distinct camps.

The Core Allegations: Tech Leaks and Intellectual Property

Dominic Williams claims that NEAR Protocol's Confidential Key Derivation (CKD)—a component of Near Intents—is derived directly from ICP's proprietary technology called vetKeys.

According to Williams, the technical details were leaked by a former DFINITY employee who was previously let go for misconduct. This follows earlier comments where Williams criticized NEAR's privacy features as misleading marketing.

Legal analysts reviewing the claims suggest that if DFINITY pursues legal action, the probability of a favorable outcome for the foundation is estimated between 70% and 85%.

Comparing the Technology: Decentralization vs Performance

Supporters of ICP emphasize the network's technical infrastructure. They highlight its ability to process around 2,000 blocks per second and its history of executing hundreds of billions of total transactions on-chain.

ICP advocates also point out that NEAR relies on centralized cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), to host user-facing interfaces. They argue this setup introduces a centralized point of failure that compromises true Web3 principles.

Market Adoption: Where NEAR Protocol Holds the Advantage

NEAR Protocol supporters view Williams' statements as a distraction from market performance metrics. They point to NEAR's steady growth in daily active addresses, ecosystem adoption, and institutional backing.

ICP is currently trading around $2.70, which is over 99% below its initial launch price in 2021. However, past performance of digital assets is not an indication of future returns or performance.

Head-to-Head Comparison: What the On-Chain Data Shows

Data from blockchain analytics platform Chainspect reveals clear trade-offs between the two networks across various key performance indicators.

NEAR Protocol Strengths

• 4.5 times more total value staked on the network
• 4.3 times higher market capitalization
• 1.6 times more active core developers building applications

Internet Computer (ICP) Strengths

• 182 times higher real-time transactions per second over a 30-day period
• 103 times lower average transaction fees over a 30-day period
• 1.7 times higher on-chain protocol revenue generated over 30 days

What This Means for the Future of Web3 AI

This dispute underscores broader questions facing Web3 development. As blockchains build complex systems for AI and encrypted data handling, open-source technology boundaries are becoming harder to define.

While NEAR continues to lead in developer adoption and market capitalization, ICP remains focused on establishing full end-to-end decentralization without relying on legacy cloud systems.