<p>Namecoins are used to register .bit domains:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.namecoin.org/dot-bit/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.namecoin.org/dot-bit/</a></p>
<p>They're also bought and sold by speculators, but DNS registration is their original purpose.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-10T19:48:54.217Z
Thanks for your answer, but I still don't understand. Buying an .bit domain costs bitcoin. You don't pay for the domain with nmc. And browsing .bit is free. Why then would anyone want to own nmc? If the answer is merely speculation, why would anyone in the future maybe want to own nmc?
Martin Josefsson
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-10T20:35:55.520Z
If you're using bitcoins (or dollars, etc.) to buy a .bit domain, you're paying someone to use their namecoins to actually register that domain.
xyz
CC BY-SA 4.0
2011-11-19T12:24:05.663Z
2022-12-10T20:41:48.730Z
2022-12-10T20:41:48.730Z
xyz
<p>Many Bitcoin mining pools offer merged mining with Namecoin, and there are places where one can buy and sell BTC for NMC and the other way around.<br>
But, why would anyone want to own NMC? As far as I understand, browsing dot-bit domains doesn't require owning NMC.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-11-22T21:51:22.683Z
There's also all the same reasons Bitcoins have value. They're scarce, fungible, easily exchangeable, pseudonymous, and so on.
David Schwartz
<mining-pools><exchange-rate><namecoin><merged-mining>
Why do namecoins have any value?
Martin Josefsson
# Why do namecoins have any value?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2011-11-19)

Many Bitcoin mining pools offer merged mining with Namecoin, and there are places where one can buy and sell BTC for NMC and the other way around.  
But, why would anyone want to own NMC? As far as I understand, browsing dot-bit domains doesn't require owning NMC.

**Tags:** mining-pools, exchange-rate, namecoin, merged-mining

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: There's also all the same reasons Bitcoins have value. They're scarce, fungible, easily exchangeable, pseudonymous, and so on.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2011-11-19. Score: 13 | Accepted answer

Namecoins are used to register .bit domains:

<https://www.namecoin.org/dot-bit/>

They're also bought and sold by speculators, but DNS registration is their original purpose.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for your answer, but I still don't understand. Buying an .bit domain costs bitcoin. You don't pay for the domain with nmc. And browsing .bit is free. Why then would anyone want to own nmc? If the answer is merely speculation, why would anyone in the future maybe want to own nmc?  
> **username_2**: If you're using bitcoins (or dollars, etc.) to buy a .bit domain, you're paying someone to use their namecoins to actually register that domain.  

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