Opera now enables users to admission decentralized web pages through a partnership with Unstoppable Domains, a tech firm backed by prominent Bitcoin (BTC) advocate Tim Draper.

The collaboration entails Opera'south integration of Unstoppable Domain's .crypto domain extension, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph on March 26. This volition permit the browser's users to surf decentralized websites, as well equally make cryptocurrency payments.

No more middleman

Every bit the proclamation further explains, blockchain domains are stored by the owner instead of by registrar firms, and decentralized websites are stored on peer-to-peer networks, not cloud services. This makes information technology possible to bear transactions without a middleman, too as avert censorship.

Unstoppable Domains told Cointelegraph that the development will affect the speed of the internet connection as, over time, a distributed network is more robust, has far amend uptime and will reduce the take a chance of incidents similar DDoS attacks.

What about countries with cyberspace censorship?

Unstoppable Domains noted that, while decentralized domains can help people avoid censorship from the publishing side, they do niggling to help viewers in jurisdictions that confront censorship, surveillance and de-anonymization bug:

"Merely as with the current spider web, if users are facing those types of issues they would demand to employ VPNs or a similar tool. Decentralized websites solve a user's ability to publish — it's on the publishing side rather than on the viewing side. Right now, you tin't publish using a traditional domain registrar if you're in a place that is limiting free speech. Whereas, with decentralized website tools, you could. So information technology's virtually the publishing and not the viewing."

Blockchain-based browsers get mainstream

The development ostensibly marks the first time a mainstream browser has integrated a domain that is non part of the traditional domain name system. Last Oct, Opera also became the commencement major browser that allows making payments with Bitcoin (BTC) directly inside the browser.

Meanwhile, Unstoppable Domains has rolled out its ain blockchain-based browser to simplify access to the decentralized web. Unstoppable Domains' websites are stored in a user'southward wallet, while the content is stored on the InterPlanetary File System or other decentralized storage networks.