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Namecoin is an experimental open-source technology which improves decentralization, security, censorship resistance, privacy, and speed of certain components of the Internet infrastructure such as DNS and identities.
(For the technically minded, Namecoin is a key/value pair registration and transfer system based on the Bitcoin technology.)
Bitcoin frees money – Namecoin frees DNS, identities, and other technologies.
Namecoin was the first fork ofBitcoin and still is one of the most innovative “altcoins”. It was first to implementmerged mining and adecentralized DNS.Namecoin was also the first solution toZooko’s Triangle, the long-standing problem of producing a naming system that is simultaneously secure, decentralized, and human-meaningful.
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2026-01-26 We’re happy to announce that Namecoin will have a presence atFOSDEM 2026 in Brussels, January 31 - February 1. We expect to give a talk; check out the FOSDEM schedule to find us (or find our absence, if we are unlucky). Recordings and live-streams may happen as well.
2025-12-17 We’re happy to announce that Namecoin will have an Assembly at39C3 (the 39th Chaos Communication Congress) in Hamburg, December 27-30. We will once again be hosted by theCDC (Critical Decentralization Cluster).
2025-09-27 Since Encaya now supports off-chainTLSA records (used for TLS server authentication), this begs a question: can something similar be done forSSHFP records (used for SSH server authentication)?
2025-09-26 I represented Namecoin at the2025 Global Conference on Educational Robotics (July 8-12, 2025 in Norman, OK). If you enjoy STEM education talks, this presentation might be up your alley.
2025-09-23 As the shelf life of most public-key cryptography nears its quantum-induced termination, many protocols are moving toward post-quantum (PQ) cryptography. PQ crypto, defined as cryptosystems that are believed to be secure against both classical and quantum cryptanalysis, is an active research area, with rapid advances happening in both the cryptosystems and the attacks. It would be nice if we had more time to research secure PQ cryptosystems, but alas we do not have that luxury. TLS is thus beginning to deploy PQ crypto. Which begs the question: how is Namecoin affected by PQ crypto adoption in TLS?
2025-09-22 Now thathashed TLSA records are a thing, it’s time to ask our inner mad scientist: can we do any better than that?
2025-09-20 If you’ve usedgenerate_nmc_cert to set up a Namecoin TLS server, you’ve probably found the interface a tad vexing. Examples of such weirdness:
2025-09-11 As long-time readers will be aware, probably the biggest innovation of Namecoin’s TLS functionality is that it uses a special form of TLS certificates that happens to work well in mainstream web browsers, via the interoperability magic of AIA and PKCS#11. This avoids having to patch web browsers or intercept TLS connections (either of which would introduce nontrivial security liabilities).
2025-09-07 For those of you who haven’t seen my various conference talks about Namecoin TLS, AIA (Authority Information Access) is a mechanism for a TLS certificate to provide a URL where you can find the certificate of its issuer. Namecoin does some, uh,creative things with AIA. For reasons that will be elaborated on in a future post (don’t worry, all will be explained there), I wanted to know the maximum length of the URL that AIA can link to.
2025-07-25 sockstrace just got a major update. Here’s a quick overview of the new features:
For the latest news go to theNamecoin forum or check outr/Namecoin.
Official anouncements will also be made onthis BitcoinTalk thread.
Help keep usstrong.You can donate to the Namecoin project here.
WithNamecoin you can make a difference. We need yourhelp to free information, especially in documentation, marketing, andcoding. You are welcome at theforum. There may bebounties, too.