If you read closely, I did not dodge but instead suggested reading the design notes. It’s not worth arguing a point with someone who lacks the understanding of something. Once I realized that this was simply bias and the thread was attacks rather than sincerity, I answered directly.
Later:
My first response [1] included a direct answer pasted from the design notes - and it’s very clesr. Unfortunately, it won’t help if you don’t know what a Sybil Attack is. I incorrectly assumed that was basic knowledge in 2020 for anyone on Hacker News [2].
When somebody says ~“is this true” and you say ~“read the docs”, you’re dodging the question. It’s a pretty fair assumption that `tptacek and I are familiar with the docs and the concept of a Sybil attack. Even if we weren’t, you could just as easily say “Yes, the design of Handsake is based around a cryptocurrency, and our implementation involves speculation. For more info, you may want to check out the docs <here>.”
Instead, you’re deflecting by insinuating that we haven’t read the spec, and thus refusing to answer the question we’re posing to you.
If you're saying A) I ignored the cryptocurrency, unfortunately you are wrong.
If you're saying B) I didn't explain to you what a sybil attack is, you're right, albeit I did provide a link.
In a global unique namespace that has no centralized control, there needs to be constraints and scarcity built into the system itself in order to prevent someone from launching a "sybil attack" which, in this context, means someone could register a trillion names without anything stopping them. By introducing a coin that in itself is a limited resource and including an auction process, essentially, there are a limited number of names since there are a limited number of coins, and, in addition, the auction process itself helps to prevent someone from getting a lot of coins and registering many names.
This explanation really just touches the surface as all the intricacies of the architecture are better detailed in full, in our project design notes [1] as I have continued to urge you to read.
Later: My first response [1] included a direct answer pasted from the design notes - and it’s very clesr. Unfortunately, it won’t help if you don’t know what a Sybil Attack is. I incorrectly assumed that was basic knowledge in 2020 for anyone on Hacker News [2].
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22900846
[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sybil_attack