When “Domain Names” Funnel Directly to Your Wallet
Some people say that blockchain is to money what HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is to information and XML (Extensible Markup Language) is to data. If so, then financial professionals potentially have a greater responsibility to understanding and overseeing blockchain efforts than they did with the investor relations page and to their XBRL filings.
In my last blog entry, I started to talk about cryptographic wallets. Wallets are the
key holders”, the way people who maintain control over their own cryptoassets manage the public and private keys that control the movement and balances of their assets. This time, I’d like to discuss a trend to hide the complexity of the keys using a metaphor much like the domain names used on the Internet.
What Domain Names Were to The Web …
My oldest domain name is ComputerCPA.com. At the present time, my web site is associated with an IP (internet protocol) address of 66.175.58.9. In other words, when you type ComputerCPA.com, the system looks up the domain name in a registry, finds the numbers, and then gets data from the server found at those numbers. Should I choose to change the hosting service of my web page, or should the present service just move things around themselves, that registry would be updated to associate my domain name with the new numbers, and the process would be transparent to anyone wanting to visit my website.
… Blockchain Domains May Be to the “Web Of Value”
So, if we thought IP addresses were difficult to remember, how about crypto asset addresses? Sure, “66.175.58.9” is a mouthful, but a ton easier to remember than “bc1q9zd3vaf0at9weqc7scv4wf9sfjyu08wt27ttld.” What if you could give a friendly mnemonic to people you were working with (yes, send the Ethereum to ComputerCPA.crypto or the Bitcoin SV to ComputerCPA.b – no those are not set up for me, so don’t do it) instead of a huge string of letters and numbers. If that was the case, what would be the role of the financial professional?
This is happening. I've been seeing a number of ads and articles speaking about "Unstoppable Domains," seeking to simplify tasks related to cryptoassets and blockchain-related tasks using a metaphor similar to the Internet Domain Name system. Instead of telling someone to send you crypto to bc1q9zd3vaf0at9weqc7scv4wf9sfjyu08wt27ttld, you tell them to send it to you at computercpa.crypto.
Those with an interest in Bitcoin SV and their broader vision of a MetaNet have an alternative to the Unstoppable Domain folks, the NBdomain team and their offerings.
Why Is This Good?
When I first got the ComputerCPA.com domain, it was not just so you could find my webpage (don't look – barely updated since I first lovingly handcrafted it with the vi text editor 25 years ago). It was so I could move my website without having to recreate it (it had been hosted and recreated multiple times before) and – even more – have portable email addresses, with abstraction from the service provider. If you search my dark and distant past, you will find a series of abandoned email addresses, but ComputerCPA goes with wherever I am.
With crypto "domains," you can tell people to pay you at something easy to remember, but have the inputs to different addresses behind the scenes. Payment channels can stay the same, while you control the other side of the channel to go wherever you want. More than “Not your keys, not your coins,” you now have “Not your name, not your keys, not your coins” (or something like that).
Is This a Problem?
I haven’t fully thought through the risks, and that’s where the ThinkTwenty20 community can shine. As with all developments, if the benefits sound good, we should be thinking through the risks and seeking to mitigate for them.
Something I need to study in particular is a prior attempt in the space of decentralized namespaces and the market for names, something called Namecoin.
Quick Thoughts:
That "layer of abstraction" (the BNS, if you will) creates a point of attack for many kinds of attacks. There are cybersquatters, who may seek your crypto domain and hold it for ransom, as people did with domain names. There can be collisions and confusion, phishing and firewalls, and any other number of challenges. As such there are many other issues to be thought through.
Email parallels
Looking to domain names as a parallel, and having mentioned web sites and emails both leveraging the domain name, the case studies may be worth looking into.
Will systems arise that emulate email? Can you send crypto to AR@ComputerCPA.crypto, Refunds@ComputerCPA.crypto and specialize it?
My small collection of domain names seems to be worth about as much as my cryptokitties, but has served me well. Do we all need to start collecting cryptodomains as well? Do we want a cryptdomain search engine? Have there been any great debates here?
And what does all of this mean to our readers?
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