[Handshake](/en/handshake) is a decentralized DNS root zone that eliminates the need to trust potential bad actors like ICANN and certificate authorities. Handshake uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority: domain ownership and transfers are carried out collectively by the network.
Handshake is a completely decentralized project and there is no official singular Foundation, Committee, Corporation, or entities in permanent unitary control of the protocol.
Handshake is the first successful implementation of a *distributed alternative DNS root zone*. Building upon the notion that the internet should be decentralized, Handshake is designed around the idea of using cryptography to control the creation and transfer of top-level domains, rather than relying on central authorities.
Handshake names have all the desirable properties of a top-level domain. They are secure, private, durable, useful, and difficult to counterfeit.
## Why
Names on Handshake are valuable over legacy systems because they are secured by a decentralized peer-to-peer network. Handshake seeks to address the root problem with legacy DNS: all the trust that's required to make it work -- Not that justified trust is a bad thing, but trust makes systems brittle, opaque, and costly to operate. Trust failures result in systemic collapses, trust curation creates inequality and monopoly lock-in, and naturally arising trust choke-points can be abused to deny access to due process. Through the use of cryptographic proof, decentralized networks, and open source software, Handshake minimizes and replaces these trust costs.
Handshake names are:
- Permissionless and borderless. The software can be installed by anybody worldwide.
- Anonymous. Handshake does not require any ID to use making it suitable for the the privacy-conscious.
- Private. When used with care Handshake can support strong privacy.
- Censorship-resistant. Nobody is able to block or seize a name on Handshake.
