Remove the addressbook

[someono]

I think the addressbook should be removed.
1. If using subscription, that's a centralized point of failure you need to trust before accessing any eepsite. The subscription owner could change any website's record to point to a server they control at any point, so that's a major vulnerability.
2. When someone shares a .i2p domain, there is no guaranty it will direct to the same site for two different users.
3. If not using subscriptions, when someone shares a .i2p domain, you need to trust a jump services at least once. That isn't too bad, but an unnecessary step.
4. In many cases, people ONLY share the .i2p, so the addressbook isn't really optional at the moment. The existence of the addressbook encourages this bad (imo) habit.
5. The addressbook is unnecessary. On Tor, there is no "DNS", people share long .onion addresses and it works just fine. Human-readable/memorable hostnames aren't necessary when every browser has bookmarks.

[lgillis]

Since you’re already challenging the existing convention in your first post on this forum, it would certainly have been helpful to cite the relevant sources. That’s usually the best way to demonstrate your level of knowledge. I also think it’s appropriate if you want to encourage other participants to join this discussion. After all, the address book affects everyone here.

[FreefallHeavens]

The addressbook is simply a convenience default, much like the popular eepsites provided in the router console page, the default I2PSnark trackers and the update URL and the public keys for signed news/version updates. If you don't like or trust them, you can remove all of them. Theoretically every one of these could be a centralized weakness. Even participating in traffic could be. You are able to configure these in the router console UI and be as zero-trust and incognito as you wish. If you hate a feature, disable it.

Your point about people only sharing .i2p is a community culture issue, not router. People can and sometimes do share full b32 addresses. Most simply choose to share the addressbook-resolved name.

[lgillis]

It didn't take long for the Libertarians to jump on the issue:

An alternative name system for I2P: XNS

XNS is the eXile Name System.
It makes Monero the only source of truth.
Each XNS name is a result of a 0.01 XMR burn transaction with the desired name and owner public Ed25519 key.

Now it can be used as the name system of I2P.

Why would you use it all of a sudden? Because currently, there is no safe names in I2P. Unless you use direct b32.i2p addresses, which are not human memorable.

What's wrong with .i2p addresses? They are just entries on your own machine and on jump services. You have to trust those jump services if you share your .i2p address with others and expect reliability. Think of it as .local/.lan names your network router resolves.

While with XNS, once you claim a XNS name, as long as Monero stands, your name will be yours and no one can take it from you.
[…]
XNS is made for the Internet of free people. [sic!] I believe I2P is the only reliable way.

(eravsar, 16. Juni 2026 https://www.reddit.com/r/i2p/comments/1u6zuph/an_alternative_name_system_for_i2p_xns/)