What is Handshake

Article Summary, Automatically Generated By AI

Summary of Handshake (HNS)

Overview

  • Decentralized permissionless system for domain name ownership
  • Aims to replace current certificate authorities and naming systems
  • Peer-to-peer system to eradicate centralized approach and cyber attacks

Founders

  • Joseph Poon and Andrew Lee (co-founders)
  • Andrew Lee: co-founder of Purse, explored innovating in marketplace and infrastructure
  • Joseph Poon: co-creator of Lightning Network and Plasma, collaborated with Vitalik Buterin on Plasma Papers
  • Other co-founders: Boyma Fahnbulleh and Christopher Jeffrey

Introducing Handshake: A Revolutionary Domain Name System

Introducing Handshake (HNS): A Revolutionary Decentralized Naming System

Handshake is a decentralized, permissionless system designed to incentivize a vast, distributed network of computers to operate a decentralized domain name ownership system.

Within the Handshake ecosystem, each peer is entrusted with the responsibility of validating and managing the root DNS naming zone, thereby providing a viable alternative to traditional certificate authorities and naming systems.

Across the internet, diverse stakeholders, including social media handles and domain owners, rely on a centralized framework. This approach, however, is predicated on a system of trust, rendering it vulnerable to cyber attacks and fraudulent activities.

Handshake endeavors to eradicate this issue by fostering a decentralized internet ecosystem, predicated on a peer-to-peer paradigm that promotes a more democratized and autonomous online experience.

The Visionaries Behind Handshake: Meet the Founders

At the helm of Handshake are its two visionary co-founders, Joseph Poon and Andrew Lee.

Lee relinquished his position at Merrill Lynch to co-establish Purse, which rapidly evolved into one of the largest marketplaces for Bitcoin in early 2014. As Purse continued to expand, he ventured to explore alternative avenues of innovation within the marketplace and invested in infrastructure development.

He and Poon had engaged in in-depth discussions revolving around the fundamental concepts underlying Handshake for years prior to co-founding the company.

Besides his pivotal role in developing Handshake, Poon collaborated with Vitalik Buterin, the esteemed co-founder of Ethereum, to co-author the seminal Plasma Papers.

Prior to his foray into the cryptocurrency realm, Poon worked at a prestigious Big Four accounting firm, and later, during a brief interlude between jobs, he went on to co-create the groundbreaking Lightning Network and Plasma.

Notable co-founders of the company are Boyma Fahnbulleh and Christopher Jeffrey, who bring their unique expertise to the table.

Unveiling the Unparalleled Characteristics of Handshake

One of Handshake’s most distinctive features is that it doesn’t aim to fully decentralize the existing DNS infrastructure, unlike many blockchain projects. Instead, its primary focus is on decentralizing the root zone and/or top-level domains.

This is because, apart from the root zone, the entirety of the DNS is inherently decentralized.

According to Handshake’s white paper, the Handshake naming protocol diverges from its predecessors in a significant way: it eschews the concept of

namespacing

or subdomains at the consensus layer. Rather than aiming to supplant the entirety of DNS, its purpose is to supplant the root zone file and the root servers.

A pivotal concept underlying Handshake is its ambition to decentralize and mitigate reliance on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

In 1998, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was established as a non-profit entity, comprising a diverse global community, with the overarching objective of ensuring a more secure internet.

Handshake instead endeavors to harness the power of a decentralized application rooted in Proof-of-Work principles, thereby bolstering the security of the internet.

The Circulating Supply of Handshake Coins: A Closer Look

The maximum supply of Handshake coins is capped at a fixed 2.04 billion, with a current circulating supply of approximately 355 million coins.

Ensuring the Integrity of Handshake: A Robust Security Framework

Handshake’s robust security is underpinned by the unspent transaction output (UTXO) of the blockchain, which leverages the time-tested principles of proof-of-work (PoW) reminiscent of Bitcoin’s pioneering approach.

The naming system incorporates on-chain smart contract features, referred to as covenants, designed to restrict the utilization of future transaction outputs.

Where to Acquire Handshake (HNS) Cryptocurrency

Handshake is listed on over a dozen prominent cryptocurrency exchanges, providing users with a diverse range of platforms to buy and sell this digital asset. Notable exchanges that support Handshake trading include Bittrex, Gate.io, BigOne, MXC.com, and ZB.com. For a comprehensive guide on converting fiat currencies to cryptocurrencies,

read more here

.

Associated Resources:

Delve into the distinctions between proof-of-work and proof-of-stake, two fundamentally different consensus mechanisms that underpin the blockchain ecosystem.

Delve into the realm of decentralized finance with our in-depth exploration.

Delve into the realm of cryptocurrencies with CoinMarketCap Alexandria, your premier destination for in-depth knowledge and insights.

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