Normally whenever an individual wants to reserve a domain, the first thing they do is go to their favorite registrar and pay a yearly fee to secure their desired website name before someone else does. The problem here lies within the register, as all top level domains are ultimately controlled by centralized actors, namely the ICANN, that possess full authority over the registry. A single point of failure, centralization of the internet directory, if I might add, is a slippery slope as that entity must always be relied on to be trustworthy. After all, history tells us that centralized entities are prone to hacks, corruption, and censorship.
Having your personal details stored in the ICANN’s servers is a risk everybody was forced into taking before the rise of blockchain domains. Nowadays several blockchain-based projects offer decentralized alternatives to traditional domains, allowing you to not only own a domain with a one time only payment, but also keep your personal information safe and private.
To prove ownership or claim over a blockchain domain, just like a cryptocurrency address, you access your domain using the private key generated when purchasing the domain, thus granting you full control over it.
DNS, short for Domain Name System, is considered to be the map that directs you as a user to your destination, in this case bullsgazette.com. When you type a website name on your browser, the DNS server converts the human-readable text “bullsgazette.com” into it’s IP address form to be able to locate it on the internet.
Several projects, namely Handshake, Unstoppable Domains, and Emercoin, allow individuals to create and run blockchain domains by utilizing smart contracts and decentralized protocols providing an alternative to ICANN and traditional DNS providers.
Photo by Markus Winkler
1 Comment
Interesting concept!