Development and Application of a Decentralized Domain Name Service
Guang Yang
TL;DR
The paper tackles the limitations of the traditional DNS—centralization, censorship risks, hijacking, and high costs—by proposing a Decentralized Domain Name Service (DDNS) that combines a purpose-built Phicoin blockchain with IPFS for distributed domain data. The architecture binds domain ownership on-chain while storing domain configuration as IPFS JSON files, enabling tamper-evident, censorship-resistant resolution with a 15-second block time that supports rapid updates. Key contributions include the Phicoin-based asset binding, JSON-domain templates, IPFS-backed data distribution, and a DNS proxy that integrates with traditional DNS workflows, validated through end-to-end testing, IPFS verification, and security/trust analyses. The work demonstrates that a decentralized approach can provide pollution- and censorship-resistant domain resolution with scalable performance, offering a viable complement or backup to existing DNS infrastructure. The DDNS design emphasizes low-cost participation, extensibility through domain templates, and open pathways for future protocol evolution and broader adoption in decentralized internet services.
Abstract
The current Domain Name System (DNS), as a core infrastructure of the internet, exhibits several shortcomings: its centralized architecture leads to censorship risks and single points of failure, making domain name resolution vulnerable to attacks. The lack of encryption in the resolution process exposes it to DNS hijacking and cache poisoning attacks. Additionally, the high operational costs limit participation and innovation among small to medium-sized users. To address these issues, this paper proposes a Decentralized Domain Name Service (DDNS) based on blockchain (Phicoin) and distributed storage (IPFS). By leveraging the immutability of blockchain and the content verification of IPFS, the system achieves decentralized storage and distribution of domain name records, eliminating the centralized dependencies of traditional DNS. With a block time of 15 seconds, the system supports rapid broadcasting of domain name updates, significantly improving resolution efficiency. The DDNS aims to serve as a complement or backup to the existing DNS system, providing a pollution-resistant, censorship-resistant, high-performance, and low-cost domain name resolution solution, offering a new technical path for the security and stability of the internet.