S15 E51: Mike Carson on Impervious & Spaces Domains on Bitcoin

Mike Carson is the CEO of Impervious (and Friendster): a Bitcoin-native ZK proof-native protocol which allows for scalable domain registrations on the Bitcoin blockchain. In this episode, he explains how & why he decided to disrupt ICANN. Time stamps: Introduction to the Podcast (00:00:41) Importance of Digital Identity (00:02:44) Overview of Spaces (00:05:25) Development of Spaces (00:06:38) Historical Context of Domain Names (00:08:38) Challenges with Namecoin (00:10:02) Censorship and Domain Ownership (00:12:49) Technical Limitations of Ethereum (00:13:52) Value of Impervious Spaces (00:17:27) Functionality of Spaces (00:18:33) Auction Mechanism Explained (00:19:58) Sponsor Introduction (00:21:05) Vlad introduces the episode's sponsors, Sideshift & Starkware Concatenation Opcode Discussion (00:22:26) Domain Access Query (00:23:29) Decentralized Naming System Details (00:23:43) Integration with Existing Systems (00:25:25) Data Storage Capabilities (00:25:58) Browser Integration Possibilities (00:27:02) Redirecting vs. Building (00:28:28) Squatting Prevention Measures (00:29:33) Human-Readable Payment Addresses (00:30:35) General Purpose Naming Integration (00:32:50) Open Source Development (00:33:22) Sidechains and Domain Names (00:33:55) Scaling Bitcoin Discussion (00:35:00) Self-Custody Consultancy (00:36:08) Digital Identity Importance (00:37:09) Potential of Naming Protocols (00:38:03) Marketplace Potential for Spaces (00:40:00) Value of Domain Names (00:40:27) User Interface Development (00:41:07) Selling Subspaces (00:42:13) Concerns About Domain Services (00:42:50) Past Domain Protocols (00:43:26) Importance of Decentralized Naming (00:44:07) Challenges of Competing with Established Services (00:48:24) Community Support for Decentralized Projects (00:49:36) Bitcoin Address Integration (00:50:59) Zero Knowledge Proofs for Scalability (00:54:14) Security and Decentralization of Block Space (00:56:08) Community Adoption of Spaces Protocol (00:57:19) Expected Launch Date for Spaces Protocol (00:58:16) Overview of Other Projects (00:59:42) Building for Handshake (00:59:46) Focus on Spaces (01:01:04) Following Spaces Updates (01:01:09) Personal Branding and Friendster (01:02:55) Domain Name Industry Insights (01:03:06) Bringing Back Friendster (01:04:49) Friendster's Historical Context (01:06:00) Nostalgia for MySpace and Hi5 (01:07:15) Onboarding Users to Bitcoin (01:08:04) Final Thoughts and Encouragement (01:09:41)