Node operators process transactions and receive token incentives. These independently owned high-spec node machines around the world are connected via Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), creating a self-sovereign network not reliant on any cloud services. Advanced cryptography allows any application or service to be run on the network in a decentralized manner via smart contracts.

The Internet Computer is a decentralized cloud blockchain, where apps can be built fully onchain, using AI, or by coding. Try caffeine.ai & icp.ninja.

ICP tokenholders own and govern the protocol. They currently take (burn) all of the total transaction fees paid by users (revenue). ICP Holders can stake their ICP on the Network Nervous System (NNS), an advanced fully on-chain DAO that facilitates liquid democracy. Staking ICP allows users to submit proposals, vote on proposals, and earn rewards for their participation in governance. Internet Computer's investors include Polychain, Scalar Capital, Amino Capital, etc.

github

twitter

discord

website

Blockchains (L1)

Internet Computer

# Internet Computer Number of validators Methodology

## 1. Overview

The Internet Computer number of validators metric measures the total count of nodes participating in subnets on the Internet Computer network on a daily basis. This metric tracks the decentralization and network participation of the Internet Computer blockchain by counting all active validator nodes across all subnets. The calculation involves extracting daily statistics from the Internet Computer network API, processing JSON-formatted data, and applying Token Terminal's standardization framework.

## 2. Data sources

- **Network statistics API**: Scraped daily statistics from the Internet Computer network API containing comprehensive network metrics including validator counts
- **Daily stats data**: JSON-formatted daily network statistics that include the `total_nodes_in_subnets` field representing the count of active validator nodes
- **Insertion metadata**: Timestamps tracking when each data point was scraped and inserted, used for data freshness and deduplication

## 3. Step-by-step calculation

### Component A: Raw data extraction
- **Purpose**: Extract and parse daily validator count data from scraped Internet Computer network statistics
- **Logic**: The system processes JSON-formatted network statistics data that contains an array of daily statistics. Each daily stats entry includes a `day` field for the date and a `total_nodes_in_subnets` field containing the validator count. The data is extracted by unnesting the JSON array of daily statistics and parsing individual fields using JSON extraction functions. The `day` field is converted from string format to timestamp, and the `total_nodes_in_subnets` value is cast to a numeric format for the validator count.
- **Key fields**: `day` (converted to `timestamp`), `total_nodes_in_subnets` (converted to `amount`), `inserted_at` timestamp for deduplication

### Component B: Data deduplication
- **Purpose**: Ensure only the most recent data point is used for each day to handle multiple scraping attempts
- **Logic**: Since the scraper may collect the same daily statistics multiple times, the system applies deduplication logic by assigning row numbers to each record. Records are partitioned by the date timestamp and ordered by the `inserted_at` timestamp in descending order. This ensures that for any given day, the most recently scraped data point receives row number 1. Only records with row number 1 are retained in the final dataset.
- **Key fields**: `row_number` calculated using window function, `inserted_at` timestamp for ordering

### Final aggregation
- **Combining components**: The deduplicated daily validator counts are passed through Token Terminal's metric finalization framework, which applies standardization and validation
- **Business metadata**: The system adds standard business classification fields including chain identifier as 'internetcomputer', business line as 'Blockchain', market sector as 'blockchains_l1', and business segment as 'blockchain'
- **Gap filling**: The finalization macro applies a 'fill_zeros' strategy to handle any missing days in the dataset by inserting zero values for gaps
- **Chain filtering**: A final availability filter is applied based on the chain identifier to ensure only valid Internet Computer data is included
- **Final calculation**: The metric value is the direct count of total nodes participating in subnets on the Internet Computer network for each day, with no additional mathematical transformations applied to the raw validator count

*This methodology was automatically generated by Token Terminal's methodology analyzer.*

Number of active validators securing the network.

Internet ComputerICP

Number of validators

Number of validators

Competitive landscape