Disclaimer: I'm about to discuss several web services and applications in this article. I'm not affiliated with any of them. There will be NO REFERRAL LINKS in this, or any of my articles. I encourage reading about every aspect, and finding alternatives as needed.
The rise of the .crypto domain
What’s a domain name?
A standard domain name ("publis0x.com"), consists of a name + TLD (Top Level Domain - .com, .org, etc.). Every time you try to browse to it (i.e. type it into your browser), you use the services of a DNS (Domain Name System), a sort of a phone book, that converts the name to an IP. You can then contact that IP and start receiving data. As such, the domains you visit are clearly visible to anyone who monitors your DNS queries (unless you use secure DNS servers, and access them over HTTPS - but admit it: you don't). For example, you internet provider may know every web site you visit, even if the rest of the communication is encrypted. And they're mandated to share that with anyone with a subpoena.
As the domain "owner", you buy a domain name from one of the many companies out there that are allowed to sell - each can sell certain TLDs. They more or less control the market, set prices, and make sure you pay ICANN fees every year, and provide them with full personal info that they can provide the authorities if needed. Worse, you don't really own the domain: you have to pay for it every year, and governments can swoop in and take ownership of it, redirecting it from your site to whetver they feel like. In the US, this has been done several times with sites that allegedly violated copyrights. In the rest of the world, worst things happened.
Enter Unstoppable Domains
A company by the name of Unstoppable Domains started selling blockchain based domains, with the TLD “.crypto” a short while ago. Unlike a regular domain name, this domain resides on a blockchain. It cannot be removed, or subverted. When buying a domain, you receive a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) that signifies your control of the domain. You can then redirect it wherever you want – an existing web site, or a web site residing on IPFS. To take ownership of it, someone has to get the token from your Ethereum address.
One major caveat: currently, most browsers do not support the .crypto TLD out of the box (with the exception of Opera). More and more applications and wallets are being added, but in the meantime, if you’re using Brave/Cjrome/Edgium, you can download Unstoppable’s Chrome Extension. I’m sure it’d end up being supported by all major browsers in the future.
What does it cost?
Domain prices start at $40 and go all the way up to $200, based on some unknown desirability algorithm. While this sounds steep, remember that this is a one-time price (as opposed to annual fee fore other domain names). Also, remember this is a new market. I’m sure prices will adjust as usage grows.
What can I do with a .crypto domain?
There are several good uses for a .crypto domain:
- You can point it to your crypto address, so next time you want someone to send you some crypto, you say “send to mikesmith.crypto” instead of sending 42 characters. This is supported for several coin and token addresses, and will make life much easier in the future.
- You can point that domain to any site you want.
- You can point that domain to an IPFS (Inter Planetary File System), which allows you to point to a permanent file.
- Finally, you can do what all the kids did in 1994: buy several Kewl™ sounding domain names, and sell them later for profit. Be aware that Unstoppable currently protects brand names, and reserves them for the legal owners (so you’re not going to get facebook.crypto or nike.crypto ??).
Let’s deploy a .crypto site
The steps we’ll take:
- Buy our first .crypto domain.
- Create a simple, single page web application.
- Deploy the application to IPFS.
- Point our domain to our application.
- Profit!
1. Getting our .crypto domain
Create a user on UnstoppableDomains.com, and search for a name you like. You will need to connect a crypto wallet (where you’ll keep the domain token), and sign several transactions. You can pay with PayPal, credit card or crypto.
I chose to buy youdoyou.crypto, hoping to sell it in the future, or come up with a cool idea for it.
Depending on network traffic, it can take between several seconds to an hour to get your domain. You can follow the transaction in the “My Transactions” view.
Once you own the domain, go to the “My Domains” view and claim it. This transfers the token permanently to your wallet. Make sure the address is correct before submitting the transaction!
2. Create a simple site
You can easily use one of the nice templates offered by Unstoppable. They have personal ones, portfolio ones, and a for-sale one. You can then configure them online.
I liked their for-sale page template for my domain, but I didn’t like not having total control of the content. Also, Unstoppable would like you to sell your domain on OpenSea.io. I prefer to sell directly. So, I grabbed their HTML, played a bit with the CSS, added my own favicon, and ended up with a page that suited me. You can see the end result on Github, or just download it here. Feel free to tinker with it, and don’t forget to replace the placeholder strings before using!
3. Deploy the site to IPFS
There are several ways to deploy files to IPFS: you can use their CLI, or several applications – check the site. But we’re going to take a shortcut and use a service called Pinata. After creating a user on the service, we’ll be using the free tier (allows pinning up to 1GB).
- Copy the files you want to upload into a folder
- Select the “Upload” option, then “Upload Directory”, and give it a name you’ll remember later (like the domain name).
- Once the upload is done, navigate to the “Pin Explorer” and you can check your site online.
- Finally, copy the IPFS hash – we’ll need it for the final step.
4. Point our domain to the site
- Go back to Unstoppable Domains, select "My Domains" from the menu, select your domain and click the "Manage" button
- Click the "website" link
- Paste the IPFS Hash, click "Save Changes" and approve the transaction
- Depending on network traffic, the transaction will take from 30 seconds to 30 minutes. You can check the progress in the "My Transactions" view
- Once done, you can browse to yourdomain.crypto and see the for sale page!
Summary
We’ve covered buying a .crypto domain, deploying a site to IPFS, and pointing our domain to it.
I hope you can see by now how easy it is – and it gets easier and faster with repetition.
You can check out my demo site on youdoyou.crypto (or this link if you don’t have the extension installed). Maybe even make me an offer ??.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve encountered any difficulties, or would like me to explain something better. Definitely comment if you found any errors. And feel free to submit a PR to the repo, if you think it can be improved.
Thanks for reading, and stay safe!
