ICP vetKeys feature goes live on mainnet
Internet Computer (ICP)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
bsc.news reports that DFINITY's vetKeys feature is now live on the Internet Computer mainnet, enabling canister smart contracts to issue cryptographic keys they cannot read. This development addresses the privacy tradeoff inherent in transparent blockchains by allowing key derivation without exposing private keys to network nodes. The mechanism operates at the subnet level, where each node creates a secret share of the key and encrypts it using the user's transport key.
A quorum of these encrypted shares is combined so that neither the nodes nor the canister holds the raw key in the clear. Users can verify the key's integrity, and the key is rebuilt on demand from the same inputs, eliminating the need for seed phrases or passwords. Access control is handled via application logic, with each key request costing the canister a small fee in cycles.
The feature is built on a verifiably encrypted threshold key derivation protocol called vetKD. It aims to bring end-to-end encryption to dapps in sectors like messaging, healthcare, and finance. This launch marks the Niobium milestone for the Internet Computer Protocol.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for ICP, measured when this story was written up on 10 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
ICP is trading at $2.78 with a 1-hour buy ratio of 55.9%, indicating a short-term shift toward buying pressure compared to the 49.2% ratio over the past four hours. However, the 24-hour buy ratio sits at 48.7%, showing that buying interest has not sustained above the neutral 50% mark over the longer term. The 1-hour volume delta is positive at +$32,885, suggesting recent aggressive buying, while the 4-hour delta is negative at -$10,994. Over the last 24 hours, the volume delta is -$205,508, indicating that sellers have dominated the flow despite a cumulative CVD of +$183,250. This divergence suggests that while large buy orders have occurred, they were likely absorbed by larger sell volumes or that selling pressure has been consistent throughout the day.
The latest daily buy ratio of 49.0% sits at the 46th percentile of the last 324 days, against a median of 49.2% - ordinary for this coin.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for ICP, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
Over the preceding week, the 7-day average buy ratio was 49.0%, meaning today's 24-hour ratio of 48.7% is only marginally below the weekly norm. The 24-hour spot volume of $7,794,262 represents 0.68x the weekly average, indicating significantly lower trading activity than usual. While the price rose 12.8% over eight days, the total volume delta for that period was -$1,717,949, showing that the price increase occurred despite net selling pressure. This day is ordinary in terms of sentiment but unusual in its reduced volume relative to the weekly baseline.