Why Is Handshake (HNS) a Layer 1 POW blockchain? (why pow instead of pos?)

Common questions I hear regularly

Why Handshake Needs Its Own Blockchain?
Why Proof of Work?
Why not Proof of Stake?

So let’s tackle this today.

As more and more ethereum naming solutions come up - and our expected explosion of new naming systems in the year 2023 - I want to highlight some points.

Guess after all my studying - I have been “sold” on the proof of work (POW) over proof of stake (POS) for systems that are meant to be very important - such as money (bitcoin) and domain TLDs (Handshake).

Yes, I am biased. But I have studied Stacks which is smart contracts on Bitcoin, and have a very close friend working in that ecosystem - but it doesn’t make sense to me.

It just makes sense to me - that you need a dedicated blockchain (ie - database) that stores the global record of domain name as a root zone.

What Are The Alternatives?

Yes - Handshake is a small chain. And yes, it is weak in this crypto bear market of 2022. But I still am not convinced on the alternatives, which are:

  • Ethereum Naming Solution (ENS) + the coming avalanche of clones - Ethereum is 51% owned/regulated by the US (OFAC), check our http://skyinclude.com/ofac/ for the full details.
  • Bitcoin - which is focused on money and not smart contracts
  • Bitcoin “layer 2 / side chain” for smart contacts - which is Stacks (watch our video tutorial https://SkyInclude.com/stacks to see that it takes 30 minutes+ to do a domain transaction)
  • Other Layer 1 blockchains that are trying to be ethereum (world’s super computer)
  • I do not see another blockchain naming protocol that is trying to SOFT FORK (not compete with ICANN) - watch this clip at https://skyinclude.com/softfork/ for inspiration - that has its own root zone and dedicated blockchain.

Yes - this is a BIG DEAL - and no one else has a solution like Handshake.

A clean, simple BLOCKCHAIN (database) for the world’s root zone.

I just don’t see any other option?

Throw it all in the messy and congested Ethereum blockchain that has expensive gas and tons of other transactions competing to get in the next block (NFT, DeFi, etc). And on top of that, it is now POS and 51% controlled by a US government body for censorship.

Other Layer 1’s that have “everything” for the world’s super computer, and are on POS and do not feel as decentralized (prove me wrong!).

What Are The Alternatives?

For a while I felt POW was bad for the environment.

But I am now convinced (maybe I am a conspiracy theory person) - the global elite do not want bitcoin and POW to work.

They want the new Ethereum, post merge POS, to win.

Why?
Because they own and control the majority of it.

I believe the environment issue is a marketing and propaganda ploy to get the masse to side against bitcoin. I believe things like in El Salvador, the government is using efficient ways to power the mining.

Nature will find a way, and if you compare it to when I worked on WAll Street and all the energy costs, it comes out less.

Doesn’t It Seem Clear - We Need a Dedicated Blockchain (database) for the Root Zone?

Look at the above choices -

  • Bitcoin or l2/side chain stacks - 30 min transaction, and mixed with other transactions, and no root zone.
  • Ethereum - so many overlapping projects (ENS still dominant solution - but only has .eth and follows ICANN for root zone), high gas, lots of defi/nft/etc TX, and 51% controlled by US government.
  • I don’t see another option - except other Layer 1’ making their own “.acronym” orphan TLD, like .tez on Tezos.

Let’s Embrace is and Strengthen the Security of the Handshake Blockchain

And just like early days of Bitcoin, there was risk of centralization in the pool and mining.

We, as a community community - need to care about bringing more miner and more pools to the chain of HNS. I noticed an issue during the Twitter space (Handshake.mastermind) we did in October 2022 - many didn’t care about HNS coin or blockchain - they just cared about the TLDs they owned and the low mining fee to renew every 2 years.

But as others commented - you need to care about the security of the chain and the demand of the coin. We need to do this together - not jut grab TLDs and say that mining and decentralization is not my problem.

You might also wanna check 5 Milestone Outline of The Evolution of Proof of Work (PoW).