The second crypto currency is here and is currently trading at 10 for 1 BTC

[RomertL]

Don't get it. What can it do that bitcoin can't?

[1714034042]

1714034042

[1714034042]

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[1714034042]

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[Sjalq]

It contains a register of domain name assignments.

You can buy domain names that no government can take from you since it is based on the same distributed model as bitcoin.

The system generates namecoins and then allows the assignment of a domain name using a certain amount of coins. This allows outsiders to buy coins from namecoin miners to allow for the registration of a domain without having been involved in mining.

[Transisto]

What is limiting the number of domain ? (stats plz)

There is currently ~80 million .com  ,   there is little to no demands for .bit and the number of domain would need to be very high for scalability.

[Sjalq]

There is demand for domain names that cannot be confiscated even by government

[TradersEdgeDice]

But who can see it?  That's what I don't have clear.

I absolutely hate verisign and I find the domain renewal scam verisign runs very annoying.

I recently had a domain I was running for 10 years taken by some European outfit because I was deep into a well paid programming project.  Laser focus.  Forgot about it.  Got burned.

When I own a namecoin .bit domain, do I own it forever?

[smell]

But who can see it?  That's what I don't have clear.

When I own a namecoin .bit domain, do I own it forever?

It's early days still.  So people will need to adjust their settings to use nameservers with .bit support.  Sometime in the future .bit may be added as an official TLD... but who knows

As for your other question, in the current system, you need to keep updating the name in the blockchain every some odd blocks (i think it works out to about a month?) but this is free.. so you own it forever unless you forget to update it once a month.  But this is a fee-less update so you will never have to pay more than the namecoins you originally spent.

[khal]

Renewal is free, but you may pay a fee in some cases (like bitcoin transactions). You own it while you renew before expire time and you are the only one to be able to control it !

It's early days still.  So people will need to adjust their settings to use nameservers with .bit support.  Sometime in the future .bit may be added as an official TLD... but who knows

I hope it well never become an ICANN TLD, otherwise, someone may have control on this TLD and this is against our aim.

[smell]

Well, you're right but the issue is more subtle.  They already do have control over .bit but not the blockchain.  That is, ICANN may introduce a .bit TLD and NOT specify opennic (or whomever represents the namecoin blockchain) as its owner but they could never control the blockchain itself.

[TradersEdgeDice]

All of that sounds good.

The system seems rigged against alternate dns.

Why does windows have only two spots for dns?  Something like this is going to need either a lot more or a different way of doing this.

We should have some kind of application where the user download something to allow them to have an ever updating list of dns addresses…

Perhaps I'm using the wrong terms.  I'm thinking of something along the lines of ad block plus subscriptions to keep all the dot bit addresses available.

[khal]

All of that sounds good.

The system seems rigged against alternate dns.

Why does windows have only two spots for dns?  Something like this is going to need either a lot more or a different way of doing this.

We should have some kind of application where the user download something to allow them to have an ever updating list of dns addresses…

Perhaps I'm using the wrong terms.  I'm thinking of something along the lines of ad block plus subscriptions to keep all the dot bit addresses available.

This is possible with :
- namecoin
- a (local) proxy which will query records for .bit in namecoin
- a (local) proxy which will send request to webservers

This method is still not well explained, but it is possible and will be easy in the future :
https://dot-bit.org/HowToBrowseBitDomains#Use_a_proxy_in_your_applications

(It is not possible to query only DNS requests with a proxy and to send request without)

[JohnDoe]

The shift is because of Namecoins value beyond being a currency. Doubt there will be a third, or rather I doubt there will be a 10th...

only a matter of time until there is:

IPcoin
VersioncontrolCoin
BandwidthCoin
StorageCoin
RoutingCoin
TorCoin
LegalnoticesCoin
WillCoin
ObituaryCoin
ContractCoin
StockholderCoin
WebOfTrustCoin
MarriageCoin

etc.

If any of those proved to have high demand then I think they should be incorporated to Namecoin rather than make yet another block chain. Namecoin already rejected the position that this technology should remain 'pure' and be used for financial transactions only, so there is no reason why it shouldn't continue to add value to itself with new uses. 

[Zeth]

Seems like somebody got jealous of the top BTC guys with $6M in BTC and decided to make their own currency and hope they make a fortune from prospective adopters who don't know economics.

[JohnDoe]

Seems like somebody got jealous of the top BTC guys with $6M in BTC and decided to make their own currency and hope they make a fortune from prospective adopters who don't know economics.

Please explain what's wrong with the economics of Namecoin.