A name whose certificate sits in the registry covenant has an owner and an expiry that are hashed into its address, not written on the chain. Until now a resolver saw only "held by some script address", forever. The transaction that moves the certificate now says the state (`c` in the payload) and the resolver checks it against the address, using the covenant's code from the network table. Nobody is trusted about who owns such a name or until when. Entering is the one step script cannot police - a certificate can be sent to a covenant address with any expiry - so resolvers set the price: the entering transaction pays the fund for whole years and may claim no more than it paid for. Once a name is inside, only a verified state speaks for it; otherwise an owner could announce their way back to a name that never expires. A name past its grace period stays taken but resolves to nothing, judged at the chain tip (the indexer now answers what that is) or, failing that, at the newest block in the beacon history, so a stale index lapses a name late and never early. Same rules in the gateway, the Ariadne resolver and the Android resolver; the builders announce every move, and there is one to put an existing name into the covenant. Chipnet's fund and steward are the operator key. |
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|---|---|---|
| contracts | ||
| setup | ||
| src | ||
| test | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| ariadne.config.json | ||
| BROWSER-PROMPT.md | ||
| build-web.mjs | ||
| DESIGN-collision-modes.md | ||
| DESIGN-hosting-pact.md | ||
| DESIGN-root-tld-cert.md | ||
| ENGINE.md | ||
| LICENSE | ||
| namespaces.pdf | ||
| OPERATIONS-electrum.md | ||
| package-lock.json | ||
| package.json | ||
| PROTOCOL.md | ||
| README.md | ||
| ROADMAP.md | ||
| sia-test.html | ||
BNS — Namecoin-style decentralized names on Bitcoin Cash (chipnet)
A working prototype of "Option 3": names are CashTokens name certificates on the BCH chain (no fork, no sidechain), records ride in OP_RETURN, discovery via a beacon address, and the resolver is embedded in a wallet app with a built-in browser pane — the Brave/MetaMask-browser architecture in miniature.
See PROTOCOL.md for the on-chain design and its honest limitations.
Layout
src/lib/bns.js— protocol core: payload codec, chain indexer/resolver, tx builderssrc/wallet-app.js— wallet + embedded resolver + browser UI (npm run wallet→ http://localhost:4626)src/register.js/src/update.js/src/resolve.js— CLI equivalentswallets.json— chipnet seed phrases (TESTNET ONLY — never reuse for real funds)src/lib/gen-wallets.js— one-time wallet generation (already run)
Setup
npm install- Fund the wallet with free chipnet tBCH: go to https://tbch.googol.cash/,
paste the wallet address (shown in the app sidebar or by
node src/lib/gen-wallets.js), pick chipnet, solve the captcha. ~0.001 tBCH funds hundreds of registrations. npm run walletand open http://localhost:4626
Standalone resolver daemon (make EVERY browser resolve .bch)
src/daemon/bnsd.js— DNS server (answers*.bchfrom the chain, forwards everything else upstream) + HTTP gateway that serves on-chain sites by Host header. Test unprivileged:node src/daemon/bnsd.js --dns-port 5354 --http-port 8081, thennode src/daemon/dig.js hello.bch.setup/install.ps1— run from an elevated PowerShell. Installs the daemon as a boot-time scheduled task (SYSTEM, auto-restart) and wires the OS to it:- default (
-Mode nrpt): adds an NRPT rule so only.bchqueries reach the daemon; all other DNS is untouched. -Mode full: points every adapter's DNS at 127.0.0.1 (daemon forwards non-.bch upstream, ncdns-style); original servers are saved and restored on uninstall.
- default (
setup/uninstall.ps1— reverses everything (rule/adapters/task).
HTTPS for .bch: the "BNS Local Root CA" (created on demand in ca/, keep
root-ca.key private) signs per-name certs. The daemon's :443 gateway mints
them on the fly for locally-served names; node src/lib/issue-cert.js <name>
issues one for a real server (see the coinspectrum.bch nginx vhost). The
installer trusts the root machine-wide and enables Firefox's
enterprise-roots policy; cert fingerprints are published in "tls" chain
records for pinning.
Caveats: browsers with "secure DNS" (DoH) enabled bypass the OS resolver — disable it or add an exception; ports 53/80/443 must be free.
Try it
- Register
hellowith inline HTML (a website stored entirely on-chain), then typehello.bchin the address bar — the app resolves it from the blockchain (not DNS) and renders it. - Or CLI:
node src/register.js hello '{"h":"<h1>Served from the BCH chain</h1>"}'thennode src/resolve.js hello