Domain names on the blockchain: new world, new rules

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Until now you reserved your domain name (name of your company, your brand…) on the Internet (“the web”) in geographical or generic extensions: masociete.fr, masociete.com, masociete.design…

But have you ever been asked to reserve your domain name on “the blockchain”, “the web3”, in extensions corresponding to cryptocurrencies (.eth .wallet .nft .888 .bitcoin…), as a defensive measure (to protect your brand in this universe), or to fit your activity?

Ex: reserve your domain name masociete.eth, via the ENS registry on the ETHEREUM blockchain, a name that you will pay with a token of the corresponding cryptocurrency, Ethereum.

⇾ Beware, these new extensions mean new operation, new advantages and risks compared to the “traditional” internet and its classic hosts.

 

Benefits Difficulties/Risks
Your domain name is published on a decentralized system based on “peer to peer”, a model of computer network “peer to peer” between resilient computers. Therefore:

  • No hosting with the usual official providers (OVH…) which impose their rules on the one hand, and which can be hacked on the other hand.
  • Update and publish your content without depending on a host.
  • No control, deletion or censorship of your name or its content by official bodies (States, Arbitration Centers for Disputes…) or by private companies (Facebook).
  • Transfer of your name without having to connect to accounts or wait for confirmation as with a classic host.
 • You access your domain name via specific tools such as gateways and plugins (decentralized “peer to peer” system and no longer classic hosts).

• On the blockchain you are all alone:

~ No technical support – if you lose the private key (which identifies you, along with your account and public key), you lose your domain name portfolio.

~ Payment in cryptocurrency, so no accounting invoice,
with the fluctuations of the cryptocurrency, and the variations of the “gas costs” (costs of execution of the transactions requested by the users on the blockchain).

 

• The decentralized system does not protect against trolls and spammers.

 

 

Register a domain name:  Approximate costs:
 

– Open an account (a wallet) identifying you as the owner of your domain name, on the blockchain of the extension you are interested in, e.g. Ethereum for an .ETH.

– Credit this account with cryptocurrency.

 Euro/Ether exchange fees.
– Pre-register your domain name (i.e. check that a third party has not made the same request)

– Register: for 1 year for example (infinite duration for the extensions of the Unstoppable Domains registry such as .888 or .bitcoin)

 Pre-registration fees, paid to the registry.
– Use your domain name: register its content in the blockchain, email addresses… and publish your IPFS address of your website3. Transaction fees, paid to the network.
TOTAL: about $96
(NB: prices vary depending on the extensions, and the commercial value/rarity of the name)

 

– Sylvie BOYER, paralegal at Mark & Law

 

Sources: Anthony DON – Jean-François POUSSARD – SOLIDNAMES.fr

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