The ICON project was founded by The ICON Foundation, a South Korean blockchain firm, in 2017. The ICON network focuses on blockchain’s interoperability feature. It aims to connect independent blockchains, allowing transactions between them to take place. That is done through ICON’s Blockchain Transmission Protocol which provides a set of rules determining how the said connection, or rather interaction, happens.
The ICON blockchain is powered by Loopchain. It uses the Loop Fault Tolerance algorithm, which in combination with Delegated Proof-of-Stake consensus protocol, reduces the number of steps that are required to take for the consensus process to happen. ICX also utilizes a Delegated Proof of Contribution economic governance model where blocks are produced and validated by 22 public representatives. The same representatives also take part in governance.
In March 2022, the ICON Foundation announced that the process of the ICON bridge testing has begun and possibly will be done by the end of the same month. The said bridge will be chain-agnostic and available to ICON dApps and other ICON projects. ICON bridge is a part of the two-phase Blockchain Transmission Protocol (BTP) launch strategy introduced by the network.