I found out about Handshake domains yesterday so I've looked into it. I set up a full node to learn about it.
I know many people are down on blockchain stuff but so far this seems like something worthwhile. It allows anyone to run their own TLD registry. So if you wanted to operate a TLD like .federated you could. Then sell or give-away or just set up your own domains "totally.federated" or "monkeys.federated" or whatever. (.federated already sold though, for (current value) of 12 cents (USD). but somebody could make an offer if they wanted it.)
This is interesting because it decentralizes domains and DNS (and also SSL certificates). Currently ICANN controls everything.
How does one get a TLD? I had trouble locating this information. The easiest way I think, (but it's not the only way) is to use Namebase.io (which was recently purchased by Namecheap domain registrar). You use the search at the top to located your TLD and bid on it, if it is available. What does that mean? Well, the names are created before they are registered. If nobody bids on it, it's available. So you can't instantly register something like .r2d2rules if it hasn't been created. Also, they use databases, which as disclosed on the handshake site, to determine trademark domains and those cannot be registered but can be claimed by trademark owners.
To bid on a domain you need HNS tokens. If you are trying to buy with cash, most sites send you to MoonPay. They quote you 10% fee (4.99 on fifty bucks) but when you get to check out it magically becomes 15% (7.50 on fifty bucks) plus they offer to give you less of the crypto currency quoted on their 'plug-in app' that affiliates use, which is crazy. and totally bait and switch scam. The cheapest way I've found is to DEPOSIT on cex.io which charges 3.1%, so $1.55 on 50 bucks. Then trade the USD for BTC or whatever. There's a .15% (point 15 percent, not fifteen pecent) trade fee. They also offer "buy crypto with credit" option but there's an extra fee (like 2% i think?) which can be avoided if you use DEPOSIT with credit card and then trade. You don't have to lose the 3.25% though, because you can trade it up and make it back. If you have time. So your cost basis is 51.63 with account value of 50 USD so you trade that for 400 of ZZZ or whatever at .125USD/ea. and immediately put in a sale order at .125/(1-.0325) = .129199. So go for .130 price point. When the sale is executed you'll have account value of 400*.130 or 52.00. You can look at the order book and see if it make sense to lower your sale price to .128, .129, etc. Like if someone is unloading ten million units at .130 you probably want to price at .129 so your's get bought first. But there are alot of people using bots to trade and from what i've seen it's silly, they keep placing sell and buy orders and cancelling before the trade happens. IT's pointless. I haven't used bots to trade. Maybe they are useful if they are stupid bots like i've seen, like what might work is fractionalizing trades and also keeping the books so you know if you're gaining or losing. It could help with trade fatigue, which happens with daytrading anything. if you spend 3 hours or so a day trading you start to feel it. Most people think book keeping is downloading a file and clicking a button. I don't trust shit like that. I have a book method for gnucash if you want to see how to do it let know. I used quickbooks years ago and when they started putting popup ads in the freaking desktop application i quit using it. like it was what $400 for quickbooks and they start throwing popup ads in your face? sorry, see ya later.
So make sure to watch the video on the namebase site about how the auctions work. There's a bid amount plus a blind. It's not THEIR auction though, you don't have use namebase.io but it's convenient. The interesting thing is the winning bid amount - nobody collects. It's burned, which increases the value of the token.
An amusing thing is the 'decentralized domain' orgs started fighting each other over TLDs.
https://domainnamewire.com/2022/07/20/unstoppable-domains-threatens-rival-handshake-domain-name/
