Let's dive into the short but long forgotten history of cryptocurrencies.
What was the first Altcoin after the creation of Bitcoin? It was Namecoin, a project that is still alive, based on software developed in Bitcoin technology, created to offer without intermediaries the registration of online identities and domain names in a decentralized system, which means that the registration, storage and backup is done on the Blockchain, and Namecoin's .bit domains are managed by its P2P network, without the need for a central authority.
Namecoin is also considered the first fork of Bitcoin. The initiative was presented in April 2011 through the Bitcointalk forum, and is based on the Bitcoin code, incorporating some changes, but with its own blockchain and its own cryptocurrency. The mining process is the same as on the Bitcoin blockchain, although it takes place on a separate chain. It also works thanks to the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus algorithm and the SHA-256 algorithm.
While the purpose of Bitcoin was always to free money in the hands of users, Namecoin aims to free DNS and identities on the Internet, and just like Bitcoin transactions, Namecoin domain names are also difficult to censor or confiscate. Domain registration comes at a cost that includes a very small registration fee, and a transaction fee for miners. There is a capped maximum of 21 million NMC coins and the reward for miners is also halved every 210,000 blocks (about 4 years), such as the total supply and halving of Bitcoin. Its platform is free to use, free and open source, with which anyone can review it, propose improvements or report errors on GitHub, as well as be used as a basis for other projects.
Namecoin was presented at the time as the first solution to the Zooko Triangle, an age-old problem associated with creating a network protocol that is at the same time Secure, Decentralized and Human-meaningful.
The identity of its creator is also a mystery (as is Mr Satoshi Nakamoto) and in this case he is known under the pseudonym Vinced. Today, the project is developed by a team of volunteers and academics at the international level, committed to working to protect freedom of expression online and save the world from an Orwellian surveillance state.
Currently, although it can be used for the storage of value and to make transfers, that is as a digital currency for daily use, which is abbreviated as NMC, the developers of the project do not promote this use, promoting the use of Bitcoin.
One of the biggest goals that Namecoin faces today is to get the existing browsers and operating systems to support Namecoin in the future, and also to achieve compatibility with ISPs (Internet Service Providers); for example, those that do not support DNS over TLS, DNSCrypt or other security protocols used by Namecoin.
What are the possible uses of Namecoin?
- Register and own domain names in a decentralized system.
- Access to websites using the .bit domain.
- Explore domains on a blockchain.
- Transfer NMC coins.
- Mine your digital currencies.
- Promote free expression on the Internet by making the web more resistant to censorship.
- Have more private online identities.
- Target Tor .onion domains with human meaningful.
- Validation of the TLS (HTTPS) certificate in decentralized mode, thanks to its blockchain consensus mechanisms.
To learn more about how to obtain Namecoin, how to mine it, how to view websites with .bit domains, and what you can think of to know about this historic altcoin, I leave you all the links here:
Official Website
White Paper
Twitter
Github
Reddit
Bitcointalk
Block Explorer
And remember: read, learn, enjoy, follow me on my new Twitter (or the less important one: tip me if you liked it)... and with or without Namecoin, be happy!