Golem network, a Polish startup led by Julian Zawistowski, is described as the “Internet of tomorrow.” The crowdfunding campaign for Golem started on Friday, 11 November. In the first 29 minutes, the project raised an astounding $8.6 million for further development.

Golem is actually a peer-to-peer network that allows for renting of redundant computation power of anyone’s computer. Thanks to this platform, people working on large informatics projects will be able to rent some power from individuals or other companies instead of requiring additional servers. For example, someone who uses his computer primarily for Facebook and e-mail can become a “provider”, and someone who needs high computational power for CGI rendering can become a “requester”.

All users are equally privileged in this system, as there is no central server – in fact, this network is also called a “decentralized Internet”. The team behind the project claims that it will substantially lower the cost of computations.

The crowdfunding was realized in cryptocurrency ETH. Golem Network determined the minimum financing cap at 150,000 ETH and the maximum at 820,000 ETH. As the maximum goal was reached, the startup will be able to finance a team of 20 people, mostly developers, for about 4 years.

After the Friday crowdfunding, Golem has already become the third largest platform ICO (Initial Coin Offering) ever. It is definitely a startup worth watching during the upcoming months.