Contrary to the FUD by some that DID is tied to DNS because of the schemas at the W3C, we haven't done anything in web5 that has any dependency there. The reality is, the mixture of Web5 and Nostr togther provides amazing benefits for both. Beyond solving issues of identity at the client layer, identity at the relay layer, to create DNS-independent node discovery is potential huge advantage to further decentralize Nostr and make it even harder to censor.
Discussion
(I never really understood the conflict to begin with, personally)
I think the conflict (differences) are due to where DIDs should fit in the protocol. I believe that some view that the pubkey/secp256k1 should be replaced by did:method in the root protocol (NIP01). Based on my own experience, I am viewings DIDs more like NIP05.
DIDs in NOSTR is just another NIP05 format.. no biggie. Can be integrated tomorrow if people wanted it.
Don’t you think DNS is fairly decentralized already? I don’t really get the concern to be honest. The internet is decentralized. Root servers around the world, not centrally managed.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/simplifying-bitcoin-addresses-dns
“It’s true that DNS has an inverted tree structure that terminates at the root “.”. But even that root is fairly decentralized, comprising thousands of servers operated by at least 13 disparate operators. The legacy DNS may be logically centralized but in reality functions more like a decentralized federation of sorts.”
I disagree. I think it’s highly centralized. And way more state-dependent.
The technology itself is not, right? FireFox has announced (and perhaps already implemented?) their own certificate store into their browser, which is one step towards more decentralization. Nothing stops us from making an Web5/Nostr web browser that has built-in custom DNS servers (which could be more dynamically selected by users) and certificate authorities. Then we're off sailing on our own sea without relying on any state-dependent root certificates or DNS root authority.
Why are Bitcoin keys not used for identity?