Bitcoin domain name BNS hype upsurge, is it an opportunity or a risk?
Original Author: Grapefruit
Original Author: Grapefruit
On May 28th, screenshots of the transaction of 001.btc domain name at 0.3 BTC (approximately US$81 million) were circulated in major encryption communities. The profit obtained from one transaction is more than 800 times. This transaction completely ignited the enthusiasm of Bitcoin domain players.
In fact, the 001.btc domain name is the textual inscription (Text) content inscribed by users based on the Bitcoin Ordinal protocol. In the early days, although the domain name was suffixed with .btc in appearance, it did not have the so-called domain name function, did not support Bitcoin address resolution, and only text NFTs were held by users.
With the completion of the 001.btc transaction, the text domain name based on the Ordinal protocol began to attract the attention of users and related service providers, and it was truly domain named to provide related functions.
The domain name has become another new hotspot in the Bitcoin ecosystem after BRC 20 and NFT. Domain name players began to race against time to engrave new domain names, for fear of missing this wealth train. And some applications on the Bitcoin chain also began to support the Bitcoin domain name service. On May 30th, Ordinals Wallet, a bitcoin inscription trading and wallet service platform, announced that it supports .btc, .sats and other domain name resolutions. Now users can use domain names to send and receive bitcoins and inscriptions, etc.; on May 31st, Bitcoin wallet Unisat was launched The domain name trading market supports the trading of .sats and .unisat suffix domain names.
The inscription of the Ordinal protocol supports anyone's inscription, which means that users can inscribe any text with .xxx character suffix similar to a domain name. At present, the consensus domain names that have been formed in the bitcoin text domain name market include a series of suffix character domain names such as .btc, .sat, .sats, and .ord.
In addition, some domain name service providers have also begun to provide domain name services, but the ecology is very chaotic. Among them, there are 3 .btc domain names, including text-based .btc domain names, BTC.US .btc domain names based on the Stacks chain, and decentralized domain name service provider BTCDomain based on Ordinals-based Jason format .btc domain names. It seems that they are all .btc, but behind them are 3 different domain name providers and operating systems.
At present, according to the domain name payment mechanism, the products on the Bitcoin domain name (BNS) market can be roughly divided into two categories: one is the lease payment domain name dominated by the domain name service provider, which needs to pay an annual service fee, and the representative products are BTC Domain and BTC. US; the other type is the Ordinals text domain name (.sats, .sat, etc.), which only needs to pay the gas fee on the chain at the time of inscription, and is valid for life.
So, what exactly is the difference between these domain names? What are the functions? How should we choose? This article will try to give some answers.
About Bitcoin BNS
BNS (Bitcoin Name Service) is the general name of Bitcoin Domain Name Service, which refers to the domain name service built on the Bitcoin blockchain network. The role of BNS is similar to that of the Ethereum domain name service ENS. It can convert bitcoin addresses into characters that are easy for humans to remember and recognize, forming bitcoin domain names ending in ".btc, .sats, .sat", etc.
BNS is a converter of addresses on the Bitcoin chain, which can convert address strings on Bitcoin that do not need to start with "bc 1 p" into easily recognizable domain name characters, similar to Twitter or Weibo usernames. After the user binds the bitcoin address to the domain name, the domain name can be used to send and receive assets on the chain such as BTC, without the need to copy and enter complicated bitcoin addresses. At the same time, the BNS domain name is also a user's universal identity certificate on the Bitcoin chain. In the future, users can use their BNS to log in to Web3 applications and display it as a user name. Users can manage corresponding wallet addresses and data.
In addition, some Internet accounts such as social accounts and emails can also support users to bind BNS domain names, and the NFT held can be recorded on the domain name or set as the domain name avatar, etc. For example, the decentralized social application Damus supports users to use the .sats domain name as username.
What are the BNS domain names? how to choose?
Today, in the Bitcoin ecosystem, according to different payment methods, there are two main ways for users to obtain domain names: one is a paid rental domain name provided by a domain name service provider, representing projects BTC.US and BTCDomain; the other is It is a text class domain name (Text) generated based on the Ordinals (ordinal) protocol.
Since the text domain name (Text) belongs to the engraved wallet address for life once it is engraved, there is no subsequent payment, and there is no project issuer, everyone is equal. Anyone can engrave the domain name they want according to their own preferences. Therefore, the text domain name In the current bitcoin domain name market, it is most sought after and welcomed by users.
But before the popularity of text-based domain names, developers had already deployed Bitcoin domain name-related products, such as BTC.US and BTCDomain. Among them, the domain names with the suffix of .btc are the most diverse. BTC.US and BTCDomain provide domain name services with the suffix of .btc, plus the text-like .btc domain names generated by users through Ordinals. That is to say, the current Bitcoin There are three types of .btc domain names in the ecosystem. This is mainly because .btc is the symbol of BTC, which is easier for users to identify and spread, and has also become the most preferred suffix character in the minds of domain name service providers.
So, what is the difference between these three .btc domain names? How should users choose?
1.Ordinals text domain name: only need to pay the Gas fee, the distribution is equal
Text domain names mainly refer to the character content similar to domain names issued based on the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol. Users only need to pay the gas fee on the chain to engrave it. Once engraved, it is valid for life and there is no follow-up fee. The main representatives are ".btc, .sat, .sats, .ord, .unisat" and so on.
The Ordinals protocol makes each Satoshi unique by engraving inscribe inscriptions on satoshis (sats), the smallest unit of Bitcoin, thus generating Ordinals NFT. The essence of issuing domain names using the Ordinals protocol is to engrave domain name strings (Text inscriptions) on Satoshi, which is why domain names have always been called Text text classes.
Since the domain name is a text-type inscription, it complies with the rules of the inscription: support any user to inscribe the domain name with any suffix through the code and first-come-first-served. The former can be understood as anyone can deploy a domain name with any character suffix .XXX, such as .uniswap, .bank, .pepe, etc.; the latter rule is the same domain name. According to the registration time, the first one is valid. The rest are invalid domain names. That is to say, it does not restrict users to register domain names with the same characters, but once the inscription of the domain name is registered, even if the latecomer registers the same one, it will be invalid and will not be recognized and accepted by the market. For example, if someone registers 001.btc for the first time in February, subsequent people can also register 001.btc, but the following 001.btc is an invalid inscription.
The process of engraving a domain name inscription is similar to deploying a BRC 20 token, except that the inscription on the BRC 20 token is unified Jason data, and the inscription of the domain name is a unique string, so each inscription domain name is also an Ordinals NFT assets.
In addition, in the current Bitcoin text domain name, the domain name has no distinction between uppercase and lowercase, and there is no difference between uppercase and lowercase when it is inscribed and recognized. That is to say, if someone minted SUSHI.btc, then you don’t need to mint SUshi.BTC/sushi .btc, etc., because this domain name has already been occupied, the latter are invalid.
Although Ordinals supports domain name inscriptions with any suffix characters, it does not mean that any suffix domain name characters must be a domain name and have value. If it does not have the function of a domain name (for example, it cannot support the binding of a Bitcoin wallet address), or if there is no consensus, it can only be a text-like inscription NFT.
That is to say, whether .xxx text inscriptions similar to domain names such as .btc, .sat, .sats, .stas, .ibx, .gm, etc. can become so-called domain names depends on whether everyone has a consensus on it and whether there is a wallet Or related service providers provide functional services related to domain names, such as supporting address resolution, which can be used to receive assets or log in to decentralized applications. Only when the relevant functions of the domain name are supported, then these texts similar to the domain name may have the value of the domain name.
Take the .btc, .sat, .stas, .sats, .ibx, and .gm domain names above as examples. Currently, the unisat wallet supports parsing .sats, so users can use the .sats domain name to receive and send Bitcoin assets; Centralized social application Damus supports user name setting as .sats, then users can use .sats as their identity representative. At this time, .sats already has the function of a domain name, and other plain text domain names with .xxx suffixes are just a text NFT because there is no wallet application to support address resolution or other domain name functions.
How to get a text domain name?
If the domain name has been registered, the user can purchase it on the Bitcoin NFT trading market or off-site peer-to-peer, and the price depends on the seller's pending order price; if the domain name has not been registered, the user can use the code on the platform that supports Bitcoin inscription It can be engraved directly, and you only need to pay the Gas fee on the Bitcoin chain (currently about $3 per transaction), and there will be no later fees.
Taking the Unisat platform as an example, want to inscribe a new domain name:
Step 1: Before registration, you need to check the domain name first to confirm whether the domain name has been registered.
Use the search function of the platform (Search), enter the desired domain name to see if it already exists, if it already exists, the re-registration will be invalid. It should be noted that in the process of plagiarism checking, the data may not be very accurate due to some reasons. At this time, users need to check plagiarism and cross-validate on multiple platforms.Step 2: After confirming that the domain name has not been registered, register the inscription through the inscribe function of the platform (Inscribe).
Since Unisat supports .sats and .unisat, users only need to click on the relevant domain name suffix and enter the characters they want to register. Multiple domain names can be minted in batches.
If there is no relevant suffix domain name on Unisat, users can enter the desired character suffix domain name through the Text (text type) dialog box, which supports batch casting of domain names with different suffixes.
What are the well-known text domain names?
Bitcoin Name Service (.btc)—is a domain name suffixed with .btc voluntarily organized by community users. Satoshi.btc has been minted and donated to the Bitcoin Foundation. As of May 31, according to Unisat retrieval, there are 100,000 registered .btc domain names.
sat.names (.sat)—sat is an abbreviation for Satoshi, and the number of registered domain names is 307,000.
sats.names(.sats) — sats is short for Satoshi, 298,000 registered.
.unisat - launched by Unisat Wallet, users with .unisat can enjoy platform fee discounts.
.ord — The first token in homage to BRC 20 is ORDI.
Text domain related tools
Plagiarism check and engraving of new domain names
iDclub——It can be used to check the domain name and register in batches, and a certain handling fee will be charged.
Unisat——supports domain name plagiarism check and registration. On May 31, the .sats and .unisat domain name trading markets have been launched, and their domain names can also be resolved to bitcoin wallet addresses. Users can receive bitcoin assets and inscriptions using .sats and .unisat domain names.
Best in Slot - aggregates various assets of the Ordinals protocol, including NFT, domain names, inscriptions, etc., users can use it to check duplicates and view the holding address information of each inscription.
Domain name secondary trading market
Ordinals Wallet - service similar to Unisat, which integrates functions such as wallet and Ordinals asset transactions. On May 30th, it announced that it has been launched to support .sats, .btc, .unisat, .xbt and other domain names, and supports domain name resolution to Bitcoin wallet address. That is, users can bind these domain names with Ordinals Wallet Bitcoin addresses, and use domain names to receive and transfer assets.
Ordswap——It is also a platform that integrates wallet and Ordinals asset trading functions, and supports the listing and trading of text domain names.
Magic Eden - Added a Bitcoin NFT market, supporting domain name transactions such as .btc.
2.BTC.US: .btc domain name issued based on the Stacks network
BTC.US is a domain name service system with the suffix ".btc" built based on the smart contract on Stacks. And Stacks is a Bitcoin smart contract chain, which can provide smart contract function support for Bitcoin and help realize the deployment of DeFi, NFT and various decentralized applications.
Currently, users who want to obtain a domain name on BTC.US need to connect to wallets such as Hiro or Xverse on its official website to apply for registration, and use the native token STX of the Stacks platform to pay for it. Each registration requires a one-time payment of 5-year annual fee of 2 STX tokens (about 1.3 US dollars), and the fee will be automatically deducted when it expires.
Domain names provided by BTC.US
The .btc domain name provided by BTC.US supports users to bind addresses on the Stacks chain and lightning network addresses, that is, users can receive and send Stacks ecological assets and lightning network assets through its .btc.
From this point of view, the .btc domain name of BTC.US is generated based on the Stacks chain, and the data is stored in Stacks, which is more used as an identity pass certificate in the Stacks network and its ecology.
3. BTCDomain: Provide paid .btc domain names based on Ordinals
BTC Domain provides .btc domain name services based on the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol. It is more like a domain name comprehensive service platform, not only providing domain name registration, but also providing domain name resolution and other related services. Committed to providing a user-friendly domain name service platform for the Bitcoin community, the product works in a similar way to ENS on Ethereum.
If a user wants to obtain a domain name on BTC Domain, he first needs to have an Ordinals type wallet address. During the registration process, in addition to paying the gas fee on the Bitcoin chain, he also needs to pay an additional annual service fee, which can be paid for up to 5 years.
When registering a domain name on the BTC Domain platform, the fee will vary depending on the length of the domain name. The annual service fee is 0.01 BTC (about 280 US dollars) for 4 characters; 0.004 BTC (about 112 US dollars) for 5 characters; The annual service fee is 0.001 (approximately $28). There is currently a 50% discount on the annual service fee for registration.
BTC Domain fees
The .btc and text domain name .btc provided by BTC Domain are also Ordinals-based domain names, but the two operating systems are completely different. According to the official statement, the .btc provided by BTC Domain is in the Json format, which has achieved deduplication and anti-counterfeiting signature design during the initial design, so the .btc domain name registered through BTC Domain has been deduplicated to ensure uniqueness.
Compared with BTC.US's .btc, the .btc domain name data provided by BTC Domain is completely stored on the Bitcoin chain. It is a native Bitcoin domain name and can be bound to a Bitcoin wallet address. Receive and send coins and inscription assets.
In addition, the .btc domain name provided by BTC Domain can resolve not only the bitcoin wallet address, but also the content of web pages. This is a handy solution for businesses, charities and individuals looking to create an identifiable identity for their Bitcoin transactions. Currently, .btc provided by BTC Domain already supports parsing Tokenview, TP wallet, Foxwallet wallet, etc.
However, some users said that due to the official existence of BTCDomain, it is not as decentralized as text-based domain names. In addition, the fees paid by users using the leasing model are too high. In this regard, the official stated that because of the existence of the BTCDomain team, more resources will be invested in the development of .btc, and support for domain name development and management will enable more application scenarios for .btc domain names.
Brutal growth of the Bitcoin domain name market is difficult to unify
Although the Bitcoin domain name brings convenience to users to manage addresses on the chain, the domain name service system is not perfect yet because it is still in the early stage of development. Since anyone can engrave the .xxx suffix in the text domain name, only the text domain name in the Bitcoin domain name market has a variety of suffix characters (.btc, .sat, .sats, .ord, .xbt, etc.) There will also be .uniswap, .xen, and more. In a short period of time, it is difficult to unify the domain name suffix characters, domain name resolution methods, registration format requirements, etc. within the Bitcoin ecosystem in a short period of time.
Taking the .btc domain name as an example, although the btc characters in the suffix are easy to be recognized and disseminated by users, there are three different service providers and operating systems behind it. Although the .btc of BTC.US uses the btc suffix, its functions and usage scenarios are more inclined to the domain names in the Stacks ecosystem; although the .btc of BTC Domain is the original domain name of Bitcoin and supports multiple wallet resolutions, due to fees, domain name registration Restrictions and centralization issues have been criticized by users for not being pure enough; while the text-type .btc is sought after by users because of no follow-up fees and a relatively fair distribution method, but due to the need for community-organized operations, the application scenarios and analysis of text-type domain names in the later period Still a problem, currently only the Ordinals Wallet address supports .btc text domain name resolution. Although these 3 .btc are different in product design and operation mode, for most users, it is easy to confuse them.
Moreover, even if they all belong to text-based domain names (such as .sats, .ord, .unisat, etc.), the registration rules are not uniform. For example, some domain names support spaces or special characters and emoticons, while others do not.
Differences in the format of text domain names, the picture comes from .btcdao
In terms of domain name usage scenarios, especially address resolution, it is also divided into various genres. For example, some wallets only support partial text domain name resolution. In addition, the domain name resolution rules and domain name types between wallets are not unified.
For example, Ordinal Wallet supports .sats, .btc, .unisat, .xbt and other domain name resolution services; Unisat supports .sats and .unisat domain name resolution, and its online domain name market currently also supports trading .sats, .unisat and other suffix domain names; TP Wallets, etc. support parsing .btc of BTC Domain. This means that users can only use the same wallet to use the domain name to transfer money and send and receive assets. For example, Xiao Ming's .btc domain name in Ordinal Wallet does not support TP wallet's .btc domain name address for btc transfers, etc.
In addition, the hype component of the text domain name is greater than the real application. Although text-type domain names are valid for life after registration and there is no additional fee, the current application scenarios are single, and even most suffix characters do not have wallets to support address resolution, and do not have the function of domain names. The transactions of these domain name characters are more about betting on future expectations. Once resolved by the wallet support, the price will increase.
In addition, it seems that everyone is equal when engraving text-type domain names, but this is not the case. Some users have engraved some beautiful 3D (3 characters) and 4 D (4 characters) domain names in batches before promoting certain suffix domain names. No. domain name, and then come out to call for orders to raise the price of the domain name, just take the opportunity to make a profit. Therefore, users need to understand the risks when investing in text domain names.
In addition to the chaos in the Bitcoin domain name market itself, the development of the decentralized domain name ecosystem itself has been controversial. Many people have questioned whether domain names are a good business in the Web3 world? Take the decentralized domain name leader ENS as an example. According to Dune data, the number of registrations in May was only 15,702, the lowest level since June last year, and the number of monthly registrations during the peak period in September 2022 was as high as 400,000. Since September last year, the number of ENS monthly registrations has been showing a decreasing trend. The .bnb domain name project Space ID on Binance Chain has greatly reduced its attention since the airdrop was over; the Bonfida (.sol) domain name project on Solana has only 716 registrations in the past 7 days.
