Author: Khalahan 2011-12-16 21:52:04
Published on: 2011-12-16T21:52:04+00:00
Several proposals have been suggested for enabling aliases in Bitcoin, but each has its own problems. FirstBits is centralized, while DNS TXT Records and Server Service both require DNSSEC security measures and limit usage to certain domain names. HTTPS Web service relies on HTTPS and CA, which requires bitcoin to check the full certificate chain and access a list of up-to-date certificate authorities. Additionally, the CA model is not entirely reliable, as several CAs were hacked this year and government control is possible. IP Transactions, another proposal, seeks to enable DNS lookups for IP transactions and has the same limitations as the others. The writer acknowledges that providing a Namecoin daemon with Bitcoin is not the most lightweight solution, but if a better one existed, it would likely have already been integrated into Bitcoin. The writer attempted to use the HTTPS proposal to send payments to emails, URLs, and domains in the GUI, but found it difficult to implement. Slush suggests that using Namecoin for aliases is over-engineering and proposes making aliases as easy as possible so that everyone can implement them in their own solutions. This approach would remove the need for standard Bitcoin addresses for normal users.
Updated on: 2023-06-04T21:53:54.516497+00:00