Building thriving Web3 communities in over 30 countries, DFINITY has achieved one of the most impressive global footprints in blockchain. This expansive network is powered by the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), a high-performance blockchain with a market cap nearing $2.9 billion, processing up to 209,000 transactions per second, and supported by a vibrant developer ecosystem and over 7,000 nodes worldwide.
Behind it all is DFINITY, a Swiss-based not-for-profit founded by Dominic Williams, dedicated to creating a decentralized, open alternative to today’s internet. To understand how this global vision is being realized on the ground, we sat down with Clement Chaikov, DFINITY’s Community Programs Lead.
In this interview, Clement shares how ICP is scaling internationally, adapting to local cultures, and pushing the boundaries of Web3 through innovations like AI on-chain.
Adaverse: Tell us about your role within the global adoption team and what excites you most about it right now?
Clement: I’m the Community Programs Lead, but that spans global events, partnerships, and initiatives. In Web3, partnerships often originate from the community, so community is central to everything we do. We work with hubs in 30 countries, helping them identify broader value they can offer. I support these hubs by proposing scalable initiatives, connecting dots across regions, and sharing what works globally. My core job is to empower these hubs: giving them the tools, structure, and knowledge to thrive locally, while enabling them to plug into something bigger.
Adaverse: Can you share an example of a case study where you helped someone see how they could scale globally?
Clement: One great example is Crypto Mondays. They have global chapters, so if you add value in one, the network effect kicks in. After one successful collab, 30 others may want in.
Recently, our Canada hub partnered with Crypto Mondays on our World Computer Hacker League. The intro came from me, and it turned into a global touchpoint.
Another common case: people with regional connections, media, policymakers, have global ambitions. I connect them across our 30-country ecosystem. Within minutes of brainstorming, we often find win-wins without needing anything transactional. It’s about value alignment, not deals.
Adaverse: If you were to give a blueprint for setting up a community in a new market, what would you say are the steps?
Clement: First, we analyze public data: is this market full of developers, creators, or something else?
Second, we validate our assumptions through 3–5 independent conversations. We talk to people on the ground and refine our view.
Third, we define what long-term value we can offer. We don’t just run events and hope something sticks. We map a journey: what will developers, creators, or users gain from us over six to 12 months?
Only when that’s clear do we go public. General meetups don’t work unless they’re part of something bigger and strategic.
Adaverse: How do you see the differences between people in Web3 across different regions?
Clement: I love this topic. We never force a one-size-fits-all model. We give hubs a flexible framework, then let them experiment and adapt to local culture.
For example, Korea has many developers, but they prioritize job security and prestige, like working at Samsung. In contrast, developers in India or the U.S. may prefer building startups.
We don’t assume. We test ideas through micro-experiments, get feedback, and refine. Success comes from cultural relevance, not central control. That’s what makes our model work.
Adaverse: Can you talk about the hubs specifically? What’s the business model and what support do you give to developers?
Clement: The hubs run on a full-stack adoption funnel, targeting not just developers, but creators, users, and partners.
👉🏼 Phase 1: Broad outreach: events, content, noise.
👉🏼 Phase 2: Deeper engagement: hackathons, workshops, fulfilling promises. Trust comes from action.
👉🏼 Phase 3: Acceleration: we double down on the top 1% of builders and creators.
Each step is tracked. If there’s friction, we document it and use the data to improve things like our SDK or onboarding. Over time, this model builds real pipelines. Local builders start pitching high-quality projects, and these won’t show up at a conference. They’re built by people who trust us because we’ve been there from day one.
Adaverse: Can you tell me about IoT and other emerging sectors that ICP is enabling innovation in?
Clement: ICP is a protocol for building tamper-proof, secure, and private applications, replacing today’s Web2 infrastructure. That applies to IoT, DePIN, RWAs, and more. But our biggest breakthrough this year is AI on-chain.
Where does your AI-generated data go? How private is it? With ICP, smart contracts can hold up to 400GB (expandable to 1TB), so you can literally run an entire LLM on-chain, privately and securely.
Plus, ICP can talk natively to Web2 and other blockchains. This makes AI interactions seamless, secure, and fully interoperable.
Adaverse: Can you share some examples of innovative projects or startups building on ICP?
Clement: One standout is Caffeine AI, currently in alpha. It’s building the concept of a self-writing internet. You interact with it via chat, and it builds complete apps or websites for you. What’s revolutionary is that it runs fully on-chain via ICP, so it’s secure, tamper-proof, and censorship-resistant. All the innovation by the DFINITY team (200+ researchers, thousands of R&D hours) is embedded in the product. You just chat and build. We’re testing it through an alpha hackathon in San Francisco soon. It’s early, but the potential is massive.
Aadverse: How do you see the Middle East shaping up for ICP’s growth, and what are your thoughts on the region’s potential and attitudes?
Clement: The Middle East holds strong potential for ICP’s growth. We already have a presence in the region: some of our team is based in Dubai, and we’ve explored Saudi, Egypt, Iraq, and others. While we had to slow down expansion due to rapid growth, the groundwork showed us that the region is highly compatible with our values and approach.
There’s a unique mix of diversity and genuine connection across the region, and we see a big opportunity to plug the Middle East more actively into our global network, linking stakeholders in Saudi with talent in Asia, or mentors from the US with innovators in Egypt. If we consolidate well by year-end, we hope to have the bandwidth to reaccelerate our presence in 2026.
