PROBLEM: ICANN, DNS, HTTPS

Centralized control over the internet and our usernames. Every brand in the world has to pay rent similar to property tax to exist on the internet. Certificate authorities are not signed by your personal keys, instead they are signed by central authority keys. Transactions must be approved and can be rerouted to different addresses when going through https.

Domains are digital assets and should be permissionless.

SOLUTION: SPACES PROTOCOL https://spacesprotocol.org/

Spaces are memorable sovereign handles anchored in Bitcoin with minimal on-chain footprint. They are easier to share compared to an npub, and can be used to sign things just like a regular public key.

WHAT MAKES SPACES SPECIAL? Spaces are anchored in Bitcoin, the most secure Proof-of-Work blockchain, and have the following properties:

Primary spaces are community identifiers, capped at ~3600 per year, acquired through permissionless auctions on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Each primary Space is a community that may issue sovereign handles off-chain known as subspaces.

Spaces AND subspaces (once allocated) are permissionless and as secure as Bitcoin itself! No bridges, slashing, or any kind of optimistic security.

The spaces protocol is designed with zk-light clients in mind making these identities verifiable on resource constrained devices.

Subspaces do not need to trust the community operator once allocated, and they can do 100% of their transactions on-chain if they wish.

Minimal on-chain footprint.

Spaces vs. ENS For full verification, you can sync the entire spaces protocol with a pruned Bitcoin full node on an old Raspberry PI. Bitcoin is the most secure Proof-of-Work blockchain today, and it's relatively lightweight compared to running an Ethereum node. The majority of ENS integrations trust centralized third-parties defeating the whole purpose of decentralized identities.

Spaces enable auctions with arbitrary bids implemented directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. Auctions are designed as a fair competition for naming rights. Instead of distributing spaces on a first-come, first-served basis, the protocol employs a bidding system. This approach helps ensure that valuable names don't all end up concentrated in the hands of a few quick actors.

Spaces are restricted to 10 a day to prevent market flooding and to ensure each name receives adequate attention during auctions.

Pre-auctions Users propose spaces they're interested in by placing bids

Each proposed name accumulates interest based on the value of the bids it receives

Names advance to the auction phase when they become one of the top 10 highest-bid spaces on a given day

The protocol releases up to 10 spaces per day which is about 3600 per year

Auctions Once a name receives sufficient interest by being one of the top 10 highest-bid spaces on a given day, it enters the auctions phase.

Auctions last for 10 days.

Anyone can bid just as they normally did in pre-auctions.

To prevent sniping, any last-minute bids extend the auction by one day.

Claim Period Once the 10-day auction concludes, the winning bidder may claim their space.

It's crucial for the winner to claim immediately because:

The auction remains open indefinitely until the space is claimed.

Someone can still outbid you during this period.

Where do proceeds from auctions go? All proceeds from the auctions are burned. This means that the BTC used for bids is permanently removed from circulation. This approach ensures that no single entity profits from the auctions. Names aren't anyone's property to begin with! The Spaces protocol is built on cypherpunk principles, emphasizing decentralization, privacy, and individual empowerment that means:

No Premine: There was no initial allocation of names to the developers or any centralized entity.

No token: BTC is the currency!

Open and Permissionless: Anyone can participate in the auctions and use the protocol without seeking permission from a central authority.

Transparent: All auctions happen directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF https://explorer.spacesprotocol.org/