[kbaker]

So, biggest question... how is this different from Namecoin [1], and how does it improve upon it? Both are in the same 'decentralized identity/DNS' space.

Also, from a cursory glance, how does this prevent spam? There seems to be no cost to register a new name. What prevents someone from taking every possible name?

[1] https://www.namecoin.org/

[ashitlerferad]

Or from the GNU naming system: https://www.gnunet.org/gns

[wongarsu]

In this scheme, there is still a central registrar with full control over the TLD. For example to register a .com domain you would still go through verisign (and pay them). This proposal would just mean that verisign would provide a public, blockchain-verified history of their DNS zone file.

That's fundamentally different from namecoin which wants to cut the registrar (verisign, etc.) of the equation.

[zokier]

Seems somewhat similar to Certificate Transparency project, where issued certificates are recorded in a public (merkle tree) log.

[mwilcox]

It's more similar to Blockstack: https://blockstack.org

[bobajeff]

Well after reading this post the obvious difference is that namecoin exists and this is just a idea that the author is still trying to work out.