[dns-operations] blockchain DNS

[Mark Jeftovic]

Peng Yonghua wrote:
> greetings,
> 
> Today I read some articles about blockchain based DNS,such as:
> 
> https://wiki.emercoin.com/en/EMCDNS
> https://blockchain-dns.info/
> ...
> 
> Would you think blockchain will change DNS world with uncentered way in
> future?
> 

I think this already starting to happen.

In the examples you sent, the blockchain-dns is just a browser plugin
method, so not really DNS. EMCDNS seems to be full on DNS but I've never
heard of it before now, thanks for sending.

My opinion is that:

- in certain situations, blockchain lends itself to DNS as being more
distributed and more redundant than some of the TLDs out there. This is
attractive to me because it would be more resistant to standard DDoS
attacks (but then the size of the blockchain would determine
vulnerability to 51% attacks)

There are also scaling issues, I would never expect or posit something
like .COM to be moved onto a blockchain.

But I've long wondered if there is a hybrid option where we have a
blockchain where one can pin DNS RR's can act as a kind of "lookaside"
for mission critical domains - but that would necessitate resolvers
being aware of it.

- the crypto space is here to stay, and the addressing scheme they all
use are begging for a naming system, the same necessity that gave rise
to DNS exists in this space and has not been solved yet.

There was Namecoin, as P.O.C but was more about being a fully
decentralized TLD without governance but as I've often remarked to these
crypto types "believe it or not, you actually *want* some kind of
governance".

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) seems out in front right now, I attended the
first ENS WG meeting in London UK last summer and there is a *lot* of
momentum here. They are incorporating DNSSEC into ENS validation and are
looking for full interoperability with legacy DNS.

The .XYZ registry is working with ENS WG to integrate .xyz domains into
ENS so that example.xyz can be used as an ethereum contract or wallet
address. See:

https://medium.com/the-ethereum-name-service/how-to-claim-your-dns-domain-on-ens-e600ef2d92ca

- I have been thinking that it may be a good idea to add a new DNS
RRType that can be used to reference "Blockchain Resources", along the
lines of a NAPTR record, so a "BCR" or "BCRPTR" which would reference
things like

	* which crypto-currency / blockchain
	* which address type within that blockchain

If anybody is interested in this please let me know, I've been
s-l-o-w-l-y organizing a working group to draft a spec proposal for
this, I've never done anything like that before.

I gave a short talk on where I see this all going at the ENS WG meeting
last year:

https://www.easydns.com/blog/2017/09/19/dns-on-blockchain-ethereum-name-service-ens-vrm-and-governance-oh-my/

- mark


-- 
Mark Jeftovic <markjr at easydns.com>
Founder & CEO, easyDNS Technologies Inc.
http://www.easyDNS.com