The Main reason businesses has website is to maintain their presence with their audience through their domain. Social media accounts could shut down anytime but a website won’t. However, in reality, even the traditional domains are which certified by ICANN are centralised and could be blocked or shutdown. That is why nowadays users are moving towards NFT domains.
NFT domain names are smart contracts recorded in a blockchain network which primarily give its holders secure full ownership and allows them to be identifiable when doing transactions on the blockchain.
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As we are on the early stages of the NFT space it is hard now to easily transact with other users especially when the addresses are hard to remember and many platform interfaces are still complicated.
NFT domains is one way to simplify the transactions process by providing easy identifiable name for the holder’s address. In this post we will discuss what are NFT domains and what makes them different from traditional domain services.
On a Public Registry: Transparent and Hard to get Hacked
Unlike traditional domains which are saved in a centralised servers, the NFT domains are saved on a public registry which are accessible through the blockchain.
NFT domains allows openness and transparency for users through the public ledger of the network. For example, Etherscan is a website that shows record of Ethereum network transactions. With the blockchain technology, NFT domains have also an enhanced security because the domains are not on one server but there are on the blockchain which has multiple servers (computers hosting the network) across the world.
Holders Have full Ownership and Control
Given that NFTs are smart contracts saved on the blockchain they provide full ownership for the holders.
So now, instead of allowing a traditional centralised website to hold your domain name, you will be able to keep it with you and use it any way you like. It means your NFT domain cannot be blocked or taken down.
It also means that because it is a smart contract held on the blockchain you will be able to transfer it to whoever you want easily without having to go through transferring processes. You will just transfer it through the blockchain network as a transaction.
As a side note, NFT domains are fully owned but not all can be held forever. For example, a service provider like Ethereum Name Service (ENS) has made a time period for holding domains, users pay extra for every additional year and are required to renew it (they have 90 days grace period). The reason by ENS domain renewal feature is because holding wallets is decentralised, and if wallets were lost by their owners (which is possible) the domain names will also be gradually disappearing forever.
Identifiable Wallet for Cryptocurrency Transactions
If you are a believer that the blockchain technology is the future. What could happen is all users in the world would want to have a wallet to keep their digital assets and interact with web3.0.
A benefit of having an NFT domain name will allow users to have names instead of the long wallet address.
Compatible on Multiple Blockchain Networks
NFT domains are compatible with multiple blockchain networks, which means with one NFT domain you can connect multiple addresses. So for example Unstoppable Domain support 275 tokens and currencies for holders to link.
What I like about Unstoppable Domains is whatever domain you buy you will keep it forever. and I like how they keep supporting and advertising it. You can check it out in this link specially if you secure your domain name for (.crypto and .NFT) extensions.
This means that instead of tracking multiple of your addresses that are associated to different networks. All you have to do is use your NFT domain name.
Name can be Connected to Social Media / Email
It is still on early stage, but once you buy your domain you can add records of your social media network and other social addresses like your e-mail.
Source: ens.domains
Above is an example of what can .eth domain holders can share for viewers. Once these platforms further develop it could be your universal login on web3.0 applications/social media networks with auto fill and recognisable mechanics.
Where can you get a NFT Domain Name?
There are two options that I would recommend choosing from. Unstoppable Domains and ENS.
I personally recommend buying and securing your name on both platforms. Because we do not know which will succeed in the future and both are very promising.
OK, You may still want more elaboration. Below is a quick summary why both.
Unstoppable Domains: Provides you lifetime ownership so its one time payment and it has .crypto and .NFT which are very good for long term (we do not know if Ethereum will remain the future leading blockchain network). Also .eth may get user confusion because it refers to Ethiopia domain extension in the traditional domain space.
ENS: It is decentralised, it’s the leading in the space, the wide-community prefer it, and are using it more.
Source: Only 6 votes from my Twitter followers. (follow me @Marshoush90 so we have more votes in the future!)
Final Thoughts
While this space is growing very fast and more adoption take place. it is likely that users will want domain names for their web3.0 identity. The future is very exiting, It could be a user holding his domain name in his wallet where he can securely interact with a website and auto-register and do a financial transaction/order with one click.
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