Decentralized naming +
certificate authority
About Handshake
Handshake is a decentralized, permissionless naming protocol where every peer is validating and in charge of managing the root DNS naming zone.
Traditional internet names depend on centralized actors that are vulnerable to hacking, censorship, and corruption.
Handshake makes the internet more secure and resilient through a peer-to-peer network run by its participants.
The Handshake Protocol
By running Handshake, one can participate in an open naming protocol secured by a decentralized peer-to-peer network.
Check the design notes, docs, and benefits.
A base layer for the decentralized internet. The internet is arranged in layers, to decentralize the internet, we need to start at the lowest layers of the stack. Secure naming ensures user agents are talking to the right endpoints.
The place for minimal global consensus. Names and signing certificates may be one of the few (if only) places of global agreement for a decentralized web.
True decentralization, no official foundation, committee, corporation, or entities in unitary control of the protocol.
Economic incentives enable decentralized agreements to form via a transparent name auction process. Without some kind of economic cost function, one person could register all names. Economic incentives enable decentralized sybil resistance which would otherwise be centralized and corrupted.
Alternative to certificate authorities, using a decentralized trust anchor to prove domain name ownership.
Distributed and permissionless zone file to which any participant has the right to add an entry or serve as host and validator.
Light clients via merkelized proofs and proof-of-work allow for lightweight name resolutions and certificates. The protocol enables cryptographic name proofs, with the potential for decentralized proof lookups to be within the MTU limit.
Why get a Handshake domain
Community
Join our community of developers, node operators, miners, domain enthusiasts, and users who value privacy, security, and true ownership.
.x/ 🤝
@xHNSTLD
Handshake is your protection against censorship.
Blink Labs
@blinklabs_io
YES! Decentralization starts at the root. 🫡
Egg.eth
@eggs_eth
I secured my daughter’s first name on Handshake 🤝 #HNS That’s a win.
MigsMachine | 😃🤝/
@MigsMachine
Storage, management, exchange. All secured by an independent #POW chain!
kaurihero 🌐 MASQ
@KauriHero
Really enjoyed speaking w/ brilliant HNS community & exploring how their ecosystem is growing! 🤝
benj
@genuinu
Handshake will be the pinnacle of naming and realized by legacy stalwarts far too late.
Pei/
@PeiHsunKao
Bitcoin is the intersection of PoW and money. HNS is the intersection of PoW and DNS.
Layla Mining
@LaylaAli00
I am so glad to be part of HNS community and Handshake is a real promising project.