A December 2010 discussion about building a decentralized DNS on Bitcoin-style proof of work. Satoshi endorsed the idea but argued the systems should stay separate — "Bitcoin and BitDNS can be used separately" — warning that "piling every proof-of-work quorum system in the world into one dataset doesn't scale." The thread led directly to Namecoin and the broader idea of merge-mining.
Key takeaways
Satoshi supported reusing Bitcoin's design beyond money — but on separate chains.
An early scaling principle: don't pile unrelated systems into one dataset.
The conceptual origin of Namecoin, altcoins and merge-mining.
Historical importance
One of Satoshi's last substantive technical positions, and the seed of the entire idea of building other systems on Bitcoin's model.
Major quotes
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“Bitcoin and BitDNS can be used separately. Users shouldn't have to download all of both to use one or the other. BitDNS users may not want to download everything the next several unrelated networks decide to pile in… Piling every proof-of-work quorum system in the world into one dataset doesn't scale.”