🤝 [Analysis] Handshake is attempting to make the Internet more open - Steven Zheng

Handshake is the anti-DNS hierarchy project that seeks to upend the entire internet structure as we know it. Run on private donations and sales of its HNS native token, Handshake is looking to replace the hierarchical DNS internet structure with a take from Bitcoin's ($BTC) book: blockchain, smart contracts, and incentives. Essentially, the internet is structured via ownership of domain names, from the basic URL all the way to the root zone file (.com., .net, .gov). At the top, root services are controlled by central authorities then controlled by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Handshake wants to do away with this power tower, which has all the logical drawbacks of centralization, and replace it with a blockchain registry and bidding system via its smart contract system, Covenant. Ownership of domains will be available to all via bidding, creating a more transparent internet. Domain bidding will take place under the Vickrey Auction system, which seals bids until counting, among other things. All bidding will take place on Handshake's token, HNS. Although boasting a star studded cast, Handshake has a large task ahead of it: moving billions off the DNS system and onto its own vision of the internet.