Written by Zayi Reyes, Partnerships at Unstoppable Domains.
Remember learning how to set up a website with your domain back in the early 90’s? Things were a little wonky and you felt like a toddler learning how to walk again? Well it’s time to get back in that mindset because today we are going to learn how to set up a .crypto and .zil blockchain domain with Unstoppable Domains!
Unstoppable Domains is a San Francisco-based company building domains on blockchains. Their vision is to make crypto payments simple and build censorship resistant websites. The company is backed by Draper Associates and Boost VC and has received grants from the Ethereum Foundation and the Zilliqa Foundation. Unstoppable Domains has registered over 250,000+ domains so far and hopes to continue building tools that enable every person to publish and transact online freely.
What is a blockchain domain?
First things first, what is a blockchain domain? It is an asset on a blockchain with two main purposes:
1. Replace your cryptocurrency address with a human readable name
Example: Replace your ETH address 0xE0E77C873a0Bf287B53141E69928A39Df3deC0ab with unstoppable.crypto
2. Build a decentralized website
The traditional domain name system lacks the self custody aspect that blockchain domains bring, as they are stored in your Web3 (ex. MetaMask) wallet. That means that no third parties such as GoDaddy store the domain and/or take it away from you. Once you purchase and claim a .crypto or .zil blockchain domain, it is stored in your wallet and is yours for life. Only the user with the private key can control the domain, this is crucial to a censorship-resistant internet.
Let’s Get Started
The first step to owning a blockchain domain is going to Unstoppable Domains’ homepage and typing in the domain you want.
If your name is protected, like cointelligence.crypto, do not fret! This is simply to protect trademarked domains so they get into the right hands and Unstoppable Domains can prevent squatting. You can apply to own a domain here if you believe a protected domain is yours, and if the request is approved, you will be given the domain free of charge.
If your domain is available for purchase, you can move forward and buy the domain using card, PayPal, crypto, or crypto.com.
Ok I own the domain, now what?
Now it’s time to store it in your Web3 wallet, as mentioned previously. For the sake of simplicity, please check out this guide to learn how to connect a wallet and claim the domain.
Then it’s the fun part - adding cryptocurrency addresses to the domain! This part is exciting because as a user you start to see your domain change from being a word to an actual functioning alternative to cryptocurrency addresses. Unstoppable Domains supports over 60 different types of cryptocurrencies.
Once you have your addresses added, you can use any of the wallets supported such as Trust or Coinomi to send crypto to your new domain. Watch an example of how this looks here!
And how can I set up a decentralized website?
You then use the templates provided by Unstoppable Domains to create a decentralized website and launch it on IPFS. IPFS is a peer-to-peer storage system used to host these decentralized websites. This makes it harder to remove content as there is not one central point of failure.
Using the Unstoppable Chrome extension or Opera browser’s Android mobile app, you can type in the domain and check out the website you have created.
There you have it, you have now set up your Unstoppable domain! For more in depth instructions, please check out this feature guide and visit the Unstoppable telegram group if you have any questions.
Written by Zayi Reyes, Partnerships at Unstoppable Domains.