March 2, 2024 4 min to read

HandyCon 2024: A Beacon of Resilience, Evolution, and Diversification

Anticipating HandyCon 2024: What's on the Horizon?

HandyCon 2024: A Beacon of Resilience, Evolution, and Diversification

It’s that time of the year again! HandyCon 2024, the 4th annual Handshake conference, is fast approaching. This year’s event is scheduled to unfold from Wednesday, March 13th to Saturday, March 16th on the Airmeet platform, promising an engaging and immersive virtual experience for all attendees.

This Year’s Inspiring Theme: Resilience, Evolution, Diversification

HandyCon 2024 is centered around three powerful pillars: Resilience, Evolution, and Diversification. These themes are chosen to reflect our collective commitment to:

Resilience: Persevering in our mission to enhance both the technology and community surrounding Handshake, especially through these challenging times.
Evolution: Breaking free from outdated paradigms to embrace innovative technologies that drive us forward.
Diversification: Expanding our horizons beyond traditional approaches, recognizing the multifaceted applications of decentralized names to serve a diverse array of audiences.

Red theme for this year’s conference

Reflecting on Our Journey: From HandyCon 2023 to Now

As we gear up for HandyCon 2024, let’s take a moment to reflect on the journey since our last gathering at HandyCon 2023. The path has been filled with both triumphs and challenges, illustrating the vibrant dynamics of the Handshake ecosystem. While the events we recount may not follow a strict chronological order, they collectively highlight significant milestones and lessons learned, underscoring the resilience and growth of our community.

Since HandyCon 2023:

ShakeStation launched by Eskimo Software
Open Systems HNS Micro-Grants awarded 10 grants [2]
WordPress integration with HNS Hosting by Nathan Woodburn
New Handshake Explorer hns.cymon.de by Simon
New Browser integrations: MASQ Browser by MASQ and Carbon by Carbon X Labs
Price of $HNS continued to drop (with a temporary pump during “The Happening”) [3]
The Soft Fork [4]
The launch of HNS.id with Optimism L2, now offering 8 SLDs (.hns, .nb, .d, .hey, .artist, .dapp, .bro, .hodl) by Namebase
The Handshake tld .sats now belongs to Unstoppable Domains [5]
E-Commerce company Loadpipe acquired Purse [6]
Superlink partnership with Everyname and HashPack by Superlink [7]
ANS x @HNS: resolve ANS names in the browser via Handshake .arweaver by AngryMouse [8]
Dename.id launched by Fx Wallet [9]
“The Happening” [10]
Links by HNS AU and Nathan Woodburn
Impervious leaves Handshake behind and moves on to Spaces Protocol [11]

Anticipating HandyCon 2024: What’s on the Horizon?

Although the official agenda for HandyCon 2024 is still under wraps, attendees can look forward to a dynamic and insightful lineup of discussions. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the pivotal topics we plan to explore:

Reflecting on “The Happening”: A comprehensive post-mortem analysis to understand the outcomes, lessons learned, and future implications.
Technological Advances within Handshake: An exciting update on the latest developments, including Stateless DANE, OpenSystems Grants, and innovative projects like Thunderbolt, Beachfront, FireWallet, WarpDex, and more.
Navigating Beyond ICANN: A critical discussion on the fading hope for ICANN’s integration with Handshake, and exploring the promising pathways forward: either Namecheap + Handshake, or GoDaddy + ENS.
The 2026 ICANN Application Rounds: Assessing the potential impacts on Handshake TLD owners and strategizing for the future.
The .wallet Case Update: A potential briefing on the latest developments in the .wallet domain case, shedding light on its implications for the community.

Other events and projects we are expecting to happen later this year include:

The launch of Thunderbolt by Namecheap [12]
Carbon ID .csix username, powered by Superlink [13]
FireWallet to launch by Nathan Woodburn [14]
.wallet will make a return by Wallet Domain [15]
HNSCanada chapter to be formalized [16]
.universe 2026 ICANN application by UNVS [17]
LoadPipe E-Commerce L2 Protocol by LoadPipe [18]
WarpDex HNS Integration [19][20]
uSwap to launch by Alex Neto [21]

Stay tuned for more detailed announcements as the organizers finalize the agenda. HandyCon 2024 promises to be a cornerstone event, offering deep dives into these topics and much more, fostering knowledge exchange and shaping the future of decentralized web technology.

Hope you get to join us at HandyCon 2024 as we continue to navigate the evolving landscape of decentralized technology, fortified by our shared values of resilience, evolution, and diversification. Together, we will explore the limitless possibilities that Handshake offers, forging new paths and building a stronger, more decentralized future.