Before Ethereum and Dogecoin, there was Namecoin… What happened to it?

La significance of Bitcoin, like so many examples of supremacy, often establishes unfair relationships with its peers, since the dominance of the scene, in this case, of BTC in the crypto ecosystem, has kept interesting virtual currency projects on the sidelines or relegated many others to oblivion.

This is the case of Namecoin, launched in 2011, It was designed to provide a decentralized domain name system, or what is the same, being the alternative to the traditional domain system (DNS, for its acronym in English), which does depend on centralized entities.

Although Namecoin has lost relevance, knowing its history and seeing that it is still operational, shows the cryptocurrency resilience, which despite often being overshadowed by stronger and more well-known cryptos, their strength lies in their ability to sustain themselves in a market where price rules.

How was Namecoin born?

A fork of the Bitcoin blockchain gave way to Namecoin. This blockchain was created to function as both a blockchain and a token, representing domain name ownership. That is, allowing token holders to request a name for their websites in an environment free from internet censorship and with greater security and privacy. 

It was in 2010, when the idea of ​​developing a tokenized domain name system, that is, a system of domain names, arose in a virtual forum. Bitcoin-like DNS system, which later became known as bitdns. 

They sought to make it so similar to the reigning cryptocurrency that the presentation of this new blockchain and its token replicated the way Bitcoin was introduced, since they used a pseudonym (Vincent Durham) for its creator, and launched it in the same chat room where the BTC announcement was made.

The technique behind the chain

To understand the basic objective of Namecoin, you need to know that The dynamics of a DNS is to be able to translate readable domain names, as is the case of www.namecoin.org, to IP addresses that computers can read, for example, 123.0.0.45.

At the time, the creators described it as "an experimental open-source technology that improves decentralization, the security, censorship resistance, privacy, and speed of certain components of the Internet infrastructure, such as DNS and identities.

In other words, Namecoin allows you to register domains under the extension".bit" and was an alternative that competed with DNS by offering greater privacy and security. 

Despite this, blockchain lost relevance due to several factors.. The lack of mass adoption and the absence of development are highlighted., which led to various technical problems associated with functionality and flexibility in its use. 

Strong competition from other cryptocurrencies has finally pushed Namecoin into oblivion. Two of them are Ethereum and Dogecoin, the first is a currency with great functional possibilities, to the point that today it is valued as the second most important virtual currency.

At the same time Dogecoin, the crypto that emerged from a meme - a Shiba Inu, a Japanese dog - initially satirized the world of digital currencies, but is now seen as the precursor to the so-called memecoins.

Although Namecoin is not as relevant today, it has a developer team and support staff who continue to generate updates to further improve the blockchain and its features. It has also received several grants that keep it alive. 

Curiosities and figures

Namecoin's “.bit” domains are not as popular as “.com” or “.org”, but some uses in the blockchain community These include cryptocurrency-related sites, projects promoting privacy, decentralization, and the use of open-source technologies, as well as blockchain technology forums and communities discussing Namecoin and other decentralized technologies.

They also use “.bit” domains, privacy advocates and freedom of expression to avoid censorship or surveillance, such as organizations or individuals related to human rights.

Equally, experimental sites or educational institutions use .bit domains to inform and train about the operation of Namecoin and blockchain technology.

According to data from Coinmarketcap, at the time of writing this note, The Namecoin token is trading at $0.9815 and a 18.640-hour trading volume of $24, and the token supply was 14.7 million.