Decentralized DNS Tools
Name resolution systems (like ENS or Handshake) not controlled by ICANN-accredited registrars.
No connection. Decentralized.Host's edge routes by ordinary Host headers and can get certificates via ACME; it does not provide or use blockchain naming.
How this differs from ordinary DNS
Regular DNS is a hierarchy of authorities: ICANN accredits registrars, registrars sell you a name, and your nameservers (often the registrar's, or a third party like Cloudflare) answer queries for it -- ultimate control sits with whoever holds the registrar account and, one level up, whoever runs the relevant top-level domain's registry. Decentralized alternatives remove that hierarchy: ENS (Ethereum Name Service) maps names like "alice.eth" to addresses and records via an Ethereum smart contract, so ownership is whatever address holds the corresponding NFT-like token -- no registrar can suspend it. Handshake goes further and decentralizes the root zone itself (the layer above .com/.eth/etc.), auctioning top-level names on its own blockchain instead of ICANN allocating them.
The practical tradeoff
Ordinary DNS resolvers (browsers, OSes, ISPs) understand ENS and Handshake names only through a bridge -- either a browser extension, a gateway service that translates alice.eth into a normal HTTPS URL, or ENS names being made resolvable via a .limo/.eth.link gateway. That bridge is itself a centralization point in practice, even though the underlying name registry isn't.
Name resolution systems (like ENS or Handshake) not controlled by ICANN-accredited registrars. No connection. Decentralized.Host's edge routes by ordinary Host headers and can get certificates via ACME; it does not provide or use blockchain naming.