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Bitcoin The Almighty Buck

Blockchain.com Will Let People Use Human-Readable Usernames In Blockchain Transactions (venturebeat.com) 25

Posted by BeauHD from the solving-the-problem dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: Blockchain.com will let people use human-readable usernames in blockchain transactions thanks to a partnership with Unstoppable Domains. San Francisco-based Blockchain.com now supports Unstoppable Domains, a domain name provider for blockchains, which are the secure and transparent digital ledgers behind cryptocurrencies. That's a big deal because Blockchain.com is the world's largest crypto wallet provider, and people have been stumbling around with encoded names that are impossible to remember. And when people lose these names for their wallets or the passwords that go with them, they are often unable to recover their names. This particular deal won't help you with your passwords, but it does help with usernames. And that helps people send money to each other more easily, with fewer mistakes. Traditionally, sending Bitcoin, Ethereum, Doge, and other cryptocurrencies requires entering the recipient's 25- to 42-digit alphanumeric wallet address, said Matthew Gould, CEO of Unstoppable Domains, said in an interview with VentureBeat. If a person mistypes or miscopies a wallet address, those funds can be lost forever. Now, instead of "156i6HJfMWb1h2BEsKpfvZ2tQugqo4vs2w," users can simply type "[YourName].crypto" to send money to others or transfer it between accounts. "What is funny is this is a case of history repeating itself because we did the exact same thing with computer networks in the 90s, where the very first way to look up websites was actually using IP addresses," Gould said. "You actually had to remember long strings of numbers in order to find the very first content on the internet. And then they invented a naming service for those so that you could use .com names. It's a very similar thing."
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Blockchain.com Will Let People Use Human-Readable Usernames In Blockchain Transactions More

Blockchain.com Will Let People Use Human-Readable Usernames In Blockchain Transactions

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  • a step backwards to me. So who knows the phone numbers of the people they call today?
  • Right now, they are considered a "rouge" registrar. If ICANN decided to, they could start selling .crypto domains and that would be a headache for everyone. Imagine if I typed in pepe.crypto and both addresses existed. One on the ICANN registrar and Unstoppable Domains? What does the browser do? While possible, it seems unlikely the browser would open two different tabs to the same address. Not to mention, that just opens a surface area for attack.

  • may be purchased.
    Who wants a .zil domain name? Perhaps this announcement was a bit premature.

  • The potential convenience of a DNS-like system is obvious, but this idea that it makes errors less likely, implies security. No.

    People do not hand type crypto addresses. They carefully copy paste them, or use a tool with address book functionality. It is nerve racking because it is *irreversible* and new. You can easily typo a DNS name and poof, your crypto could be gone. What if a DNS server gets hacked? Or your lookup spoofed?

    Private keys and alphanumeric addresses are extremely secure, and NOT error pron

    • Agreed, I came here to say this myself. My understanding is that many high-security connections over the internet still use raw ip addresses precisely to avoid the risk posed by compromised DNS servers. And you can still layer a bunch of extra security on top of a TCP/IP connection to try to verify that you're really connection to the computer you intended to.

      For generally irreversible cryptocurrency transfers? Give me your actual wallet number, don't make me ask for it from an unaffiliated 3rd party wit

      • Might as well add that I mostly don't remember domain names, either. I remember a few for the sites I visit frequently, but mostly not.

  • If only someone came up with a way to move value using contact info everyone has, like oh, an email address. Reinventing the wheel rarely is an improvement.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by yo303 ( 558777 )

      If you don't mind it being public, the email to wallet address mappings could be added to the blockchain, removing the need for a central authority.

      • but then your back to square 1 where someone can add someone elses email to their wallett address and wait for someone to look it up and send to it. so then we need trust like the ssl layer now where we trust that another 3rd party was able to correctly verify the address owners email and are secure themselves. then we go down the same rabbit hole of who trusts who, who spoofs what, spend more money. ill just let my wallet software accept the copy paste of the one verifiable public key, the software check t
  • Remember, the Titanic was advertised as "unsinkable."

  • Bad for privacy. Centralized. Will never be widely adopted.

    Blockchain.com had its day. Best to fuggedaboutit unless they return to community roots and focus on privacy and free open source software.

  • I mean it is not like they can point every entry to a single wallet that they control and steal all the transactions until the word gets out and then disappear with all the BTC.
    ...

    Oh, wait...
  • Good luck with that. If this takes off all the normal looking names and words will be used up and we are back to random names. Jsmith75

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