Topic: [announce] Namecoin - a distributed naming system based on Bitcoin - page 40. (Read 597092 times)

I'm unaware of any BitTorrent indexes using Namecoin, but TheShadowBrokers used Namecoin for a while [1].  I guess TSB are a bit ahead of the curve compared to BitTorrent index operators [2].

[1] I believe they removed the links to their Namecoin domain name from their Twitter and Steemit profiles in the last few weeks, which coincided with most of their Twitter posts disappearing.  However, it looks like their Namecoin domain name is still active.  I don't know what the backstory there is.

[2] The usual disclaimer applies that while I wouldn't be surprised if TSB are capable of using Namecoin safely, I don't endorse average-skilled people using Namecoin for high-risk activity.

It blows my mind, a few local torrents and translation sites were shut down an people got fined.. and none of then heard of Zeronet.

Namecoin is the first solution to produce a naming system that is simultaneously secure, decentralized, and human-meaningful.

I don't understand why torrent website owner did'nt catch up on this yet

Obviously, if you will look at the chart, It will go up just like other known cryptocurrency from the past. Specially now they are adding some features that can compete now to other cryptocurrency. The price is still low if you look at its history.

Hi @Biolizard89, again - thank you for your hard work alongside the Namecoin team and associates. Much appreciation for taking the time to answer my questions! You have left me with much to ponder, pointing me in a good direction for further research. 

Hello!  Sorry for the delayed reply, it seems I've been failing to check this thread for a couple weeks.


Thanks for your support!


The Namecoin and Monero teams are continuing to collaborate on areas of common interest.  One example is that Namecoin's anonymity properties are very poor, and this is a roadblock for Namecoin's usage as a naming system for Tor.  The way we're going about fixing that is by trying to support a workflow where a user purchases NMC using a more anonymous currency.  (This could be Monero, Zcash, or any other asset that can be traded for NMC.)  This isn't Monero-specific (I've talked to Riccardo from Monero about it, as well as Zooko from Zcash), but since Monero will need to do a consensus fork in order to support this use case properly (and Zcash won't, to my knowledge), more coordination is happening between Namecoin and Monero than between Namecoin and Zcash.  Also, Riccardo tends to hang around #namecoin-dev, and Zooko doesn't, so naturally there's more interaction with Riccardo than with Zooko.  Namecoin as a project doesn't endorse any particular anonymous cryptocurrency as the best one -- in fact we explicitly decided not to integrate ring signatures or zk-SNARKs into Namecoin, specifically because we want end users to have a choice about what anonymous blockchain technology they use.

Also note that NLnet Labs and NLnet Foundation are two different entities.  NLnet Foundation's primary role is funding projects; NLnet Labs' primary role is development.  NLnet Foundation funds NLnet Labs, but any collaboration between Monero and NLnet Labs is unrelated to Namecoin's funding from NLnet Foundation.


Ah, I see you were paying attention to my QCon talk.  Kudos to you!  Yeah, the fact that CSV and SegWit are blocked until AAA happens does set up a scenario similar to the BIP66 issue.  You probably noticed that I alluded to this a bit in my talk, when I mentioned that even if you're diligent, you'll find yourself in a situation occasionally where you need to maintain a patchset against your upstream, and that effort should be made to minimize the duration where this is the case.  We are expending effort on this front, but unfortunately coordinating a hardfork takes time.  All we can do here is try to activate AAA as fast as can do safely, and hope that CSV and SegWit don't become the next BIP66.

Other than the BIP66-like scenario, we should be mostly unaffected by Bitcoin consensus issues.  Namecoin blocks don't need to have a parent block that's actually part of the Bitcoin blockchain; as long as the parent block has valid SHA256D PoW, it's accepted by Namecoin.  So if Bitcoin has a chainfork, both sides of the Bitcoin chainfork will be valid as Namecoin parent blocks.  (Some people have speculated that this might even result in Namecoin having a higher hashrate than Bitcoin for a short period of time.)


On the contrary, your questions are excellent -- clearly you did your homework before asking them. 

If you have an idea say it, or send a message to one of the devs. This is not ripple etc. You do not need permission to speak. If you are not able to find out who any of the devs are you probably should research things a bit before you share ideas.

Who is the DEV here?  I have a few ideas

@PeterTheGrape - I have done little research about Monero, but the little I know from @Biolizard89's presentation about them piqued my interest. If what you say is the case then that is disappointing to hear about Monero.

Hi @Biolizard89,

I am quite new to all of this, but have been cautiously reading as much as I can about alt-coins, which of course led me to the wonders of blockchain and various projects underway. I can't believe how disconnected much of the world is from something so transformative for all of us. For obvious reasons, Namecoin stood out to me and I have invested for the long-run. Much appreciation for the relentless work you and your team have and are putting into Namecoin.

What I would like to know: Are the Namecoin and Monero teams still actively working alongside each other on common projects, as stated on Namecoin's official webpage and the presentation you gave in London last year? I just did a bit of reading about OpenAlias and I know that Monero mentioned receiving assistance from NLnet Labs, but it appears that this is their own, in-house project. Is there a collaboration that will be announced in the near future? What would such a collaboration mean for Namecoin?

What are your general thoughts about potential fallout surrounding BIP 148 at the beginning of August? Do you think a lot of the miners will seriously think about rejecting SegWit? I know you are focused on AAA at the moment, but what would it mean for Namecoin and everyone else if they take that position, and why would they (re: history lesson from BIP66!)?

Like I said, I am new to all of this so excuse me if my questions are a bit rudimentary.

Think fast

I sold all my namecoin in 2013 for 15$ on btc-e but now im thinking about buying once again

Well done Jeremy. Decentralised TLS using namecoin integration for DNS has been a secret wish and hobby horse of mine since learning about namecoin.  Let's give those corrupt and incompetent rent-seeking CA a run for their money.

For somebody who does not want to click through links

https://www.namecoin.org/2017/05/19/funding-nlnet.html

That's actually a very good idea.  I'm a huge fan of Democracy Now, and I'm aware that they interview software developers from time to time (Jake Appelbaum immediately comes to mind).

I fully agree that outreach to political / activist communities is worthwhile, rather than simply staying focused on Bitcoin audiences.  (I was a speaker at a small human rights conference hosted at my university last year, for exactly this reason.)  Given that Democracy Now often covers issues of mass surveillance, it seems to me that it might be best to wait until TLS and Tor integration is released before we consider talking to Democracy Now -- I imagine that the TLS and Tor aspects would be pretty big draws for Democracy Now and their audience.  Now that we've got funding to work on these features (see the link in my previous post), this should proceed pretty fast.

Thank you for the suggestion!

Namecoin Receives 29,895 EUR in Funding from NLnet Foundation's Internet Hardening Fund

This is probably not the easy answer you might have wanted, but I'll give a suggestion of what I think a good venue would be.

I would look for somebody with media and political connections to ask DemocracyNow to do it.

https://twitter.com/democracynow

https://www.youtube.com/user/democracynow

Namecoin overlaps a lot of political issues that are growing. It offers an intelligent transition to something that is too often arrived at by violence. It should not be hard to get political journalists to provide ama venues and interviews, except that most of them don't know anything about crypto except a vague idea that bitcoin buys drugs.

Alex dropped some names, I don't know who they are but maybe they have connections to journos like that.

   edit to add

There are a lot of venues where you could do a small 'ask me anything' and get a few people to have some curiosity. If you start from the political side though, and offer Namecoin as a solution to many problems, that just so happens to also be a variant of bitcoin, there is a synergy that might go far.

Crypto people, miners, mostly want profit. Namecoin will probably be very profitable eventually, but so will a lot of coins. So if you talk to people about Namecoin "as a crypto currency", you are saying "we are one of many cryptocurrencies, and you could compare us to this or that currency and see if you think we are interesting".

Political audiences though, idealists, want answers, solutions. Bitcoin solves some political problems long term, and has a lot of competitors that solve the same problems. Bitcoin is not unique in its field and may not even be the best.

Namecoin is unique though, in that

1) The problem that it solves is not really solved any other easy way. ICANN is not going to make some new tld extension that is not under the control of "whoever has the best lawyers". They are not able to do that, because they have offices, physical identifications as individuals, citizenships etc. If they tried to offer some liberty outside the narrow interest of their government they, the employees of icann, are targetable by their respective govts. Only an automated system, controlled by consensus can squish petty bureaucrats.

2) It has a very strong appeal to the most experienced political people. It is not a coin that will appeal to some kid who has lived in Beverly Hills and donates their used surfboard to charity each year. But the most savvy and forward looking people who are aware of political realities will see that it is an important step. Hopefully Namecoin will be copied and improved and there will be some infrastructure to connect .bit with icann tld's and future coin tld's, but first people have to learn about the possibility itself, what Namecoin aspires or tries, even without success so far.

There are a lot of political venues that have intelligent people who can cut away the fluff and present facts intelligibly. DemocracyNow came to mind only because the style of interviews I've seen Amy Goodman do was good. Once there is some interview or something then an 'ask me anything' should evolve easily.

Is NMC being pumped right now or there is some news.?

I would probably be happy to do an AMA every now and then, as long as it doesn't cut into development time too much.  Do you have suggestions on where a good venue would be?

If you do find yourself with free time, we'd definitely love to have help.  There's certainly no shortage of tasks that would benefit from additional developers.  Thanks for the kind words!