Handshake Domains: Fair Auctions, Hard Adoption, and What Comes Next
Mike and Zach discuss Handshake's fair auctions, resolver friction, centralized dependencies, and the tools decentralized domains need next.
Handshake domains offer a permissionless way to own and operate top-level domains, but the protocol's hardest problem is no longer proving that decentralized naming can work. It is making those names easy and useful for people beyond the core community.
This focused SkyInclude conversation comes from the Handshake section of GFA496. Mike Michelini and Zach move from the protocol's auction design to the resolver problem, the loss of familiar centralized tools, and the opportunity for builders to create what the ecosystem still needs.
Why Handshake still attracts builders
A conventional domain buyer usually interacts with a registrar and never has to think about who controls the top-level domain above the name. Handshake changes that relationship. The protocol lets participants acquire top-level domains through an open blockchain-based process and publish DNS delegation records without asking a central naming authority to approve each TLD.
That does not make conventional DNS irrelevant. It creates an alternative root that can coexist with familiar names when users choose an HNS-aware resolver. The appeal is direct ownership and permissionless operation; the tradeoff is that resolution is not built into the default configuration of most browsers and devices.
Fair auctions are one of the strongest ideas
Zach's background in buying collectible drums on eBay gives him a natural interest in auction design. In the interview, he and Mike explain why Handshake's sealed-bid, Vickrey-style process feels different from a normal marketplace auction.
Bidders commit funds without revealing the exact bid during the bidding phase. After reveal, the highest valid bidder wins and generally pays the value of the second-highest revealed bid. The design encourages people to bid closer to what a name is actually worth to them, while blind amounts make simple last-minute price chasing harder.
The details matter, especially bid, reveal, and redemption timing. Anyone trying it should use current wallet guidance, keep backups, and start with a controlled amount. See SkyInclude's step-by-step Handshake auction guide before placing a bid.
The adoption criticism is fair
The conversation does not pretend Handshake has reached mainstream adoption. A Handshake name normally needs an HNS-aware resolver, browser, DNS service, gateway, or local node. Someone typing the name into a stock browser with default DNS may not reach it.
That friction is not a minor detail. A decentralized root can be technically elegant and still fail users if setup is confusing, tools disappear, or reliable resolution paths are hard to discover. SkyInclude exists partly to make that layer more practical. You can try SkyInclude Browser as one maintained route for opening Handshake names.
Centralized convenience created a contradiction
For years, much of the Handshake community depended on centralized services for custody, discovery, trading, and convenience. When major services changed direction or wound down, users were reminded that a decentralized protocol does not automatically produce decentralized habits.
This does not mean centralized interfaces are always bad. Good interfaces help people learn and participate. The problem appears when one company becomes the default custody or market layer for an ecosystem built around user control.
SkyInclude's guide on what Handshake owners should do after Namebase and Namecheap covers the practical response: verify what you own, move toward self-custody where appropriate, and support tools that do not recreate the same single point of failure.
The missing tools are the opportunity
Zach describes a bidding utility he is developing to schedule bids and manage several auctions without staying awake for a particular block. At the time of recording, it was still a local prototype rather than a public product. That is exactly why it is interesting: the next phase of Handshake may come from small, specific tools built by people solving their own operational problems.
The ecosystem still needs dependable resolver experiences, safer wallet workflows, better auction interfaces, clearer custody education, and marketplaces that preserve user control. None of those requires pretending adoption is already solved.
What .agent adds to the discussion
Mike also discusses the Handshake .agent TLD and his work on HeadlessDomains. The idea is to connect a domain-based identity with software agents, authentication, payments, and machine-readable services. Agents can be configured to use a resolver or endpoint intentionally, so they do not always depend on a person typing a name into a default browser.
Disclosure: Mike is commercially involved with HeadlessDomains and the Handshake .agent namespace. Statements in the interview about product capabilities, pricing, ICANN policy, registry requirements, or future adoption should be treated as discussion and verified against current primary sources before anyone acts on them. Nothing here is financial, legal, or investment advice.
What should Handshake builders work on next?
The useful question is not whether Handshake has already won. It has not reached default-browser distribution, and important user-experience gaps remain. The useful question is whether an open naming root gives builders enough room to create services that conventional domain systems make difficult.
If you own Handshake names, make sure you understand your custody and recovery path. If you are new, try a resolver before buying anything. If you build software, choose one narrow problem—resolution, bidding, backups, discovery, identity, or marketplaces—and make it easier for the next person.
Which missing Handshake tool would make the biggest difference for you right now?
Watch the complete GFA496 conversation with Zach for his ecommerce and international-travel story alongside this deeper Handshake discussion.