Handshake is a software which runs with the objective of incentivizing a network of computers to operate and manage a new system governing domain name ownership.

ICCAN is the current non-profit organization which sets the standards in terms of which letter combinations can follow the dot in any kind of domain (ex: .com, .net, org, etc.).

Handshake operates as a potential replacement for ICANN’s figure as the central authority as it aims at also being able to create and issue high-level domains in an open auction system in its network.

By doing so, Handshake may have the opportunity to offer an unlimited range of domains while making Certificate Authorities companies nigh obsolete. Certificate Authorities (or CAs) are what tells users that a website is in fact genuine by means of a padlock icon on the users’ browser, near the URL bar. They can, however, still be tricked or manipulated into thinking a website is genuine when it’s not, given that they depend on ICANN as to maintain a list of approved domains.

Handshake would fix that verification protocol by moving it to its blockchain.

Handshake Explained

Handshake holds Vickrey auctions for website domains every two weeks. In order to participate in said auctions, who are automatically handled by Handshake’s software, its users need to bid HNS, Handshake’s very own cryptocurrency. The winner of the auction must pay whatever the second highest price for the bid was.

The History Behind Handshake

Handshake is the vision of a vast team whose most prominent members might just be Joseph Poon, the man who helped in the creation of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, and Christopher Jeffrey, the CTO of Purse.

They raised an estimate $10 million USD from venture capital firms and Handshake had its official launch on February 2020.