RIF Labs, the blockchain infrastructure service company led by RSK Labs’s founding team and other top executives, today has officially announced the launch of the RSK Name Service (RNS).
RNS is the first implementation of the RIF Directory Protocol and allows users of the Root Infrastructure Framework Open Standard (RIF OS) full access to the service that enables users to easily identify relevant resources such as RSK addresses, public keys, social network handles, among others on the RSK Live Network via readable aliases and domain names.
“As we’re continuing to build out the RIF OS and expanding the capabilities of the underlying RSK Smart Contract Network, we can’t lose sight of the number one obstacle to mainstream user adoption: basic usability. When the Internet was first being developed, it was hard to understand the transformative potential it possessed. Without services like DNS, we would still be relying on remembering exact IP addresses to access internet services. Without those basic services, mass adoption would have never been reached.”
RNS helps to map human-readable aliases to the currently hard-to-read hexadecimal addresses blockchain developers and users are forced to use today.
For example, if you want to search for your friend Alice on a future RIF messenger service, rather than searching for “3f84e75ebb8a561e24436eb456463b79afe533fc,” you can simply search for “alice.rsk.”
RNS employs a bidding system for domain name registration to ensure fairness. RNS is the precursor in a stack of powerful services that will integrate the full suite of RIF OS Protocols such as off-chain payments, data storage, data feeds, and secure communications.
“Our vision has always been focused on the creation of the Internet of Value – an open network where individuals can transfer value from point A to point B without censorship or intermediation – and making the RNS available to all users is critical to achieving this goal,” continued Zaldivar. “If we can make this system accessible to the billions of unbanked and underbanked in today’s world, we can effectively combat the financial inequality that currently wracks our planet.”
