Namecoin is one of the first alternate cryptocurrencies based on bitcoin (sha-256) which offers additional features.

Namecoin = bitcoin + domain name services. Namecoin uses .bit domain name pool.

Official website

Always use the latest Namecoin client version from the official website to avoid issues.

Namecoin most important features

• Securely register and transfer arbitrary names (keys), no possible censorship!
• Attach values (data) to the names (currently up to 520 bytes, will be extended)
• Trade and transact namecoins, the digital currency NMC
• Name/value pairs are stored in the blockchain attached to coins
• Names are acquired through new transaction types – new, first-update and update
• Names expire after 12000 blocks unless renewed with an update
• No two unexpired names can be identical

Sample usages of Namecoin

• DNS: domain_name => domain_zone_configuration (also for i2p, Tor)
• TLS: https like encryption and secure identification by Namecoin domain/ID/name
• Alias/Identity: user_name => user_public_identity (email, name, gpg key, BTC-adress, etc)
• Timestamping: document_hash => document_infos (name, hash, owner, etc)
• Broadcasting / Messaging
• Web of trust
• Bonds, shares
• Voting
• Torrent tracker

Namecoin

Total coins: 21 million Namecoins (the same as bitcoin). Each Namecoin is divisible down to 8 decimal places.

Namecoin currently uses the .bit domain. As of January 2014, 123616 .bit domains have been registered.

Remember to use the lastest client version! Download it from below.