I first started buying domains 20 years ago. I had lost those original domains because I was in high school and didn’t have a good plan for the future. So when I heard about Unstoppable domains, the first thing that caught my eye was the promise of “forever.” Today, we will look at how the ecosystem works and how they can do this forever promise.
Answer: Yes, you do own your Unstoppable domain forever. Once minted, it is yours as a non-fungible token tied to the blockchain. So, in this case, forever is as long as the blockchain lasts, but it should be more than a few lifetimes barring any world-ending event.
A lot goes into understanding why TLDs are for a limited time and how Unstoppable domains can make something that lasts forever. I don’t want to bore you with the details, so instead, I’ll write separate articles about those subjects and place links here once completed.
I will start with an important concept NO RENEWAL FEES. Yes, you read that the right part of your domain being forever is the fact it is truly forever. There are no renewal fees or other reasons for the Unstoppable team ever to come back and cause you to lose your Unstoppable Domain.
We could get into the details and break down the technology behind this; instead, let’s cover the top-level 50,000-foot view and talk about what you can do when you have a domain that lasts forever. This concept is wholly new but at the same time as familiar and old as land or property ownership.
Keep reading, and I’ll try to answer the most common questions people ask; if I miss something, post a comment below. If you enjoy this article, you can help support my work by using the button below this paragraph. It will allow you to purchase an Unstoppable Domain with my referral code at no extra cost!
Unstoppable Basics
Who created Unstoppable Domains?
Matthew Gould, Bogdan Gusiev, Braden Pezeshki, and Bradley Kam are listed as Founders on the Unstoppable website. Matthew seems to be the most active in social media and online in general, often appearing in The Unstoppable Podcast and being very active on Twitter @matthewegould.
Speaking of The Unstoppable Podcast, I recommend you check it out. It is an excellent resource of crypto news and an outstanding teacher of concepts, and a place to learn about new projects. I have a podcast page I will post it on called NFT Podcasts.
Why Did the Team Create Unstoppable Domains?
Reading and listening to the founders, they love crypto and decentralized technology in general. The founders were one of the first companies to work with smart contracts. Many of the things they talk about now with the direction things are headed with proof of humanity, but the original concept of an easy-to-remember address to sync to your crypto wallet is cool. They integrate with hundreds of wallets and other smart contract tools and applications.
What is a Non-Fungible Token?
Non-Fungible Token deserves a series of articles. The concept is broad and deep, but I can still keep it relatively simple to say it is like a ticket. Most tickets these days come with a barcode or QRCode and some serial number to prove that you have the original. However, a clever thief could still forge and steal your spot on the train from the ticket holder. But with crypto and non-fungible tokens, you can have that serial tied to a single ticket that is unalterable in your hand as it is unalterable in its existence.
So now, when you go to the ticket collector, they can look at the history of the non-fungible token and prove its origin and validity. I know this doesn’t explain the mechanics, but that should be enough to understand the concept. However, leave me a comment below if you think you can break it down better.
How Can Unstoppable Domains be forever?
While it is true blockchain is a new technology, its concepts are not new. The drive to crypto has spurred new and essential innovations in computing and storage. Another is the concepts surrounding smart contracts and non-fungible tokens.
One unique side effect is many things that were only theories or maybe had small proofs of concept running have now been moved into robust full-scale solutions.
One example of what I’m talking about is the very concept of blockchain and distributed storage. This works because each node has a copy of transactions on its blockchain (this is ignoring possible zero-knowledge blockchains and other exciting things we will look at later). Because there is no central authority that we must consult regarding ownership, we don’t need to pay someone every year.
The old domain naming scheme is more akin to paying rent or leasing than owning. But with blockchain domains, specifically Unstoppable Domains, you own the name forever—a seemingly novel concept in today’s light.
What Can I Do With My Unstoppable Domain?
To answer this question would be a set of articles, so to keep this section short, I will give you the basics.
- link all your crypto wallets to a single easy to remember domain name
- Web3 logins
- Use Chainlink to connect to your online identity
- Cloudflare integration to get your blockchain domain working with any browser
- Sell your domain on OpenSea
- Host a Web3 Decentralized websites
- Humanity Check
- Profile Pages
- Accept payments on Coinbase
- Store them in a Custody vault
There are so many more things you can do; these were the ones that I could think of from the top of my head.
What Other Crypto Domains Are There?
Two I can think of because they have been around the longest are Handshake and Eth. Each system has unique characteristics that make them different from traditional domains (TLDs) and Unstoppable Domains.
Each of these deserves its write-up, but I’ll give some details below [and list a few others].
Handshake
It started around February of 2018 (thanks to Matthew Zipkin for helping me find that); it was not until 2020 that the Mainnet launched. Handshake is cool, but if you are not experienced in working with code. Only use the linked claiming software from the official website. In searching for information, I came across at least one site outright lying about its involvement and authority in the space. However, I found tons of other helpful resources; most came from the official site linked in the next paragraph.
HNS and HandShake.org can help you get started. I will have full articles on this later, and I plan on going through the process of claiming some names. I look forward to this process and the pieces that will come out.
Something worth noting is that Unstoppable Domains and the ENS system are based on smart contracts, where Handshake is an entire blockchain and ecosystem in itself. You will want to check back when I go deeper into the world of HNS. Leave a comment below if you have used Handsake and tell us how you feel about it.
Eth and ENS
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is built on the Ethereum blockchain. Like Unstoppable Domains, it is made to map human-readable names to much more prolonged and harder-to-read crypto addresses. This is another technology that will require a complete set of articles and exploration, but I have been completely priced out of the ENS .eth domains. I will have to keep checking to see if gas fees put it in range for me. I understand that .eth domains have a renewal fee; they have expiration dates.
Until then, I’ll keep talking about the other cool crypto things. Leave a comment below if you have a .eth domain.