Johnny Wu
Sep 23 · 3 min read
Isn’t it strange how nobody actually owns their domains? We all just rent them. Somehow we’ve grown accustomed to paying annual fees to corporations just to use their subdomains!
The only way to actually own a domain is by owning the top-level domain, but these are controlled by an organization called ICANN. Applications for new ICANN top-level domains (TLDs) are currently closed making it literally impossible to own a domain, but that doesn’t even matter because the usual application fee to apply for a new TLD is a whopping $185,000.
However, there’s now an alternative to the ICANN TLD system and it’s been backed by venture capitalists like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and Draper Associates: Handshake.
Handshake is a decentralized blockchain (source code) that distributes TLDs through vickrey-style auctions where the highest bidders only pay the 2nd highest bids, making it entirely possible to win TLDs for free! These bids are placed using the Handshake token (HNS) and the winning bids are burned from the blockchain, which then creates deflationary effects on the price of HNS.
In other words, the winning bids from Handshake TLD auctions do not get paid to anybody, which ensures there’s no room for corruption in the distribution of Handshake TLDs. And once you win your TLD, you keep it forever.
Unlike subdomains, which can have unlimited variations (handshake.com, handshake.org, handshake.net, etc.), there is only one of each TLD. There will only ever be one “.handshake/”, there will only ever be one “.🤝/” and similarly there will only ever be one of “.yourname/”. I personally already own “.johnnywu/”, and if you want to ensure you get your TLD too, you’ll want to act now!
Before you can bid on Handshake TLDs, you’ll need to first get HNS, which can be purchased with USD (currently only available in USA) or BTC (available worldwide) on Namebase.io. Once you have HNS, you can then use Namebase to place your HNS bids and manage TLDs that you win. For some inspiration on how you can use your Handshake TLDs, check out my The .identity Boom article.
Want to learn more about Handshake or get involved with growing it? Visit the Namer Community at hns.to/community.nb/ to get started — we also have Handshake merch! Fun fact: “community.nb/” is a Handshake domain on the “.nb/” Handshake TLD.
Happy naming!
Handshake was launched on February 14th, 2020. TLDs are released in batches every week for the first year, which means after February 12th, 2021, every possible Handshake TLD will have been released and become available for bidding.
Namebase did not create Handshake — we are big fans of Handshake and built our platform to make it easy to buy and sell HNS as well as use, manage, purchase, sell, and bid on Handshake names.
Links:
https://medium.com/@jaywuzer/why-are-we-still-renting-domains-eefd45a4de1c