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Vickrey Auction (Handshake)

Handshake's blind second-price auction system for TLD registration — winner pays the second-highest bid.

Handshake uses a Vickrey auction (blind second-price auction) system for TLD name registration. Bidders submit sealed bids in HNS coins. The highest bidder wins but pays only the second-highest bid amount — the difference is returned to them as a "lockup." This mechanism encourages truthful bidding, as there is no advantage to bidding below your true value. The auction process takes several weeks from opening to reveal to finalization.