When NFTs came on board, it was such a fast-paced path. Yet again, it’s now necessary to keep your eyes open not to miss the impact of where NFT domains are going to be. My FOMO is starting again.
NFT domains are web extensions fully hosted on public blockchains (the next thing after crypto domains). The domains are non-fungible tokens functioning as a domain. They are the key to having a certain space in the Web3 and provide full ownership of stored data to the domain owner.
You can purchase NFT domains easily on their marketplace. Once you buy them, you get digital certificate ownership like copyright and authenticity for a given asset. Whether digital or physical, it is a lifetime purchase, unlike regular web domains that need a yearly renewal. Let’s get started and take you through the process as I buy thatfomoisreal.nft.
How NFT domains work
It was not an easy course to get people to understand NFTs. In no time, we have stepped up to the place of NFT domains. Don’t worry, as we’ll explain how the NFT domains work in this easy-to-understand guide.
A good way to understand the NFT domain is to do a quick comparison with the traditional domains. We’re talking about website extensions like .com, .org, and so on.
A conventional domain is rented from a registrar or your hosting company for a fee. Technically, you never own it. However, as long as you follow the registrar’s contract terms, you are allowed to use the domain for your website.
In contrast, if you purchase an NFT domain, you retain ownership of it until you decide to sell it. The domain and all of its related content remain entirely under your control. Additionally, you often buy it using crypto as opposed to cash.
Since blockchain domains offer superior security, many people purchase their NFT domains for this reason. Instead of going through middlemen, you’ll control your domain name. Plus, by combining your NFT domain with the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), you may build a website that is resistant to censorship.
These amazing new domains that are smart contracts can do even more. For example, you can seamlessly replace your long wallet address with the domain name. This means you can collect crypto payments more easily than before.
Exciting, right? Even some companies turn the complex crypto wallet address into these simple forms that can be linked to a web page.
FOMO.nft, for instance, as an NFT domain can accept crypto payments directly without needing something like this: 0xb6060GFb676897EAECa521R7C8BE728D9BB5E92.
Furthermore, when that FOMO.nft is clicked it will load a web page just like this one. But don’t bother pasting it into your browser, it’s not bought yet.
How is the NFT domain able to do all this?
An important question there. You see, the NFT domain first operates on the blockchain and there are innovative benefits to this technology. Remember the open ledger system of blockchain technology?
The NFT domains decentralize the storage of data. This way, no company or individual can control your online data. It is fully yours since it is verifiable by anyone, which is an awesome level of transparency.
Stored data in the blockchain is not falsifiable, it is open and public. It is a guarantee of increased security backed with anonymity. In simple terms, the NFT domain is simply a crypto address that doubles as a web address.
Basic functionality is that it offers access to a web page like in the usual web 2.0. In addition to that, it is also a wallet address. The best part of all of these is the tokenization. Once you purchase an NFT domain, it is yours for keeping.
You can choose to sell it for some handsome amount of money when picking those sweet and short. ETH domains. I missed the 10K club in which an .ENS domain consists of 4 numbers up to 9999.eth but was lucky enough to snatch my name domain name which is also 4 letters short.
NFT Domains to Watch
The NFT market is a very robust one. In 2021, it was reported that the NFT market was valued at over USD 15 billion. That’s where some of the FOMO is getting to me, right? But what can we expect from the future after this crypto winter…
The Most Expensive Domains Ever Sold
Let’s start with analyzing where the market for regular is at by looking at some of the most expensive domains ever sold. Some notable traditional domain names were sold for millions of dollars. See a brief list of the most expensive domains as published by GoDaddy below:
Domain name
CarInsurance.com
Insurance.com
VacationRentals.com
PrivateJet.com
Voice.com
Internet.com
360.com
Insure.com
Fund.com
Hotels.com
Price
$49.7 million
$35.6 million
$35 million
$30.18 million
$30.18 million
$30 million
$18 million
$16 million
$9.99 million
$11 million
When you saw these values, your jaws dropped, we guess. But these will be nothing compared to NFT domain values in the near future.
The Most Expensive .NFT Domains Ever Sold
Before the threshold finally gets into multiples of million, get on the wave. To make good use of this trend, you should start looking at strategic domains to invest in. Some of them will surely soar in value as the NFT domains gain more weight globally. The domain win.crypto, for instance, was sold for the US $100,000.
Domain Name Marketplace and Providers
There are special NFT marketplaces where you can buy domain names. To complete your purchase, you will need to set up an account on one of those marketplaces.
It is important that you check the payment options available on the marketplace. Generally, crypto payments are preferred but there are options to pay with fiat currency.
These NFT marketplaces are the common sites for buying NFT domains:
UnstoppableDomains
UnstoppableDomains is an innovative crypto domain registrar that enables users to buy blockchain domains and enables users to manage payments for 276 digital assets under a single domain name.
It also provides the ability to use the domain as a fully functional website that can even have dApps built onto it because the domain is hosted on the blockchain. UnstoppableDomains requires a one-time purchase and no yearly renewal fees.
Ethereum Name Service (ENS)
Ethereum Name Service is a decentralized, open, and extensible name system that works with the Ethereum blockchain.
Users may purchase and control their own domains through the ENS, enabling safe and decentralized transactions without having to deal with lengthy and complicated addresses. Additionally, it lessens the possibility of any input errors while entering the recipient’s address for money transfers.
Quik
Quik is one of the largest NFT domain marketplaces, where consumers can not only search for name listings but also create unique NFT domains for the decentralized web. Once you buy a domain name from Quik, you become the sole owner of it, as opposed to renting it on a monthly or annual basis.
Blockchain Domain Extensions List
Instead of the traditional extensions like .com, .net, or .org, blockchain domain names use the following endings (updated August 2022):
- .bit
- .crypto
- .eth
- .nft
- .xyz
- .blockchain
- .bitcoin
- .coin
- .dao
- .x
- .888
- .wallet
- .zil
- .metaverse
- .VR,
- .doge
- .shib
- .bored
NFT Domain Names to Watch
Another reason NFTs are expensive is because of something economists call a bubble. In simple English, a bubble occurs when investors start to purchase tokens in numbers. This rush causes the value to rise way above the true worth.
This might also happen soon with NFT domains. It has already begun but is not yet full-blown. There are notable domains that must become gold mines with time.
Check our list of currenty most valuable NFT domains to follow:
- nft.nft
- bitcoins.crypto
- coin.nft
- coin.wallet
- coin.dao
- coin.coin
- wallets.crypto
- nft.x is
- nft.888
- nft.bitcoin
How to Buy an NFT Domain
There are two ways to own an NFT domain. The first one is to buy an existing NFT domain name. The other one is to create and mint a new and unique NFT domain.
That minting sounded like printing money, right? We will get to that in a bit. Let’s discuss how you can buy a ready NFT domain first.
Consider NFT domain purchase as buying an NFT itself. There are designated marketplaces for buying NFT domains. This is quite different from buying a traditional domain.
Steps to Buying NFT Domains
In four simple steps, you can get your NFT domain. Check them out!
- Find trusted and reputable NFT domain marketplaces such as Unstoppable domain, Quik, Ethereum Name Service, OpenSea, and Rarible. These sites host domain trading between buyers and sellers. Set up a user account on the preferred marketplace and move on!
- After setting up an account, type your preferred domain name in the search bar. You can simply scroll through available listings if you don’t have a name in mind. Then check and select from available extensions such as .nft, .crypto, .bitcoin, etc. The price varies for different top-level domains.
- Now that you’ve chosen a domain, the next step is the payment for your purchase. You can pay either with cryptocurrency i.e. Bitcoin, Ethereum, or credit card. Depending on the options the marketplace provides to its users, you may even use PayPal. By the way, you must connect a crypto wallet to your account when registering. This is important to pay with cryptocurrencies.
- The final step is “minting” the domain, in which you claim ownership of the domain. This process is how the blockchain recognizes that you own this domain name. It is the last “publishing” step.
Now you can store your domain in the custodial wallet of the marketplace. It is best to store it in a personal wallet. It can be a Metamask wallet or Coinbase.
With that purchase, you have a website address and cryptocurrency wallet. You can list other NFTs for sale on your new website.
Steps to Create a New NFT Domain
Apart from buying an NFT domain that has been created, you can create a new one. You can make a completely unique domain name for yourself.
Trending keywords are often used to create unique NFT domain names. These domains can be sold for a big price to Web3 whales with too much ETH. You only need to get creative and think of something that can pickle people’s interest.
Creating and minting a new NFT domain can also be done on sites like Ethereum Name Service or Unstoppable Domains.
Follow these steps to get started with putting your nft domain on the blockchain:
- Create an account on a website that allows the creation of new NFT domains. Examples are above.
- Search for available names using trending keywords in the search panel.
- Choose the domain extension you want. Such as .eth, .crypto, .nft, and so on.
- Make payment with your crypto wallet or other available payment options.
- Mint the new domain on a public blockchain. The popular ones are Polygon and Ethereum network,
- Transfer the new domain to your wallet. You may have to pay fees for transferring.
Now you have successfully created and minted a new and unique NFT domain.
How to Use your NFT Domains
This should not be a big question anymore if you’ve read to this point. Several major functions of the NFT domains have been mentioned.
First, you can use your NFT domain like the traditional counterparts. Your webpage can be easily connected to your NFT domain. Like the instance we used earlier, you can put FOMO.nft into the browser and get to this webpage. Simply put, NFT domains can be used for website addresses.
Another thing to use NFT domains for is as a wallet. Sending cryptocurrencies normally involves the use of wallet addresses, which are long generic, and boring sets of numbers and alphabets.
With NFT domains, you simply need the domain name to make payments. The domains will function as a public wallet address for your crypto wallet. This makes payments easy and fast.
There is yet another way to use NFT domains and sell your NFT domains like a token. You can trade them and look to make a profit, yet the risk with this is just as high as anticipating the next crypto coin that will skyrocket.
Almost anything has been tokenized to be sold as NFT. The same can be done with NFT domains. Traditional domains have been sold for big money and within a few years, tokenized domains will be sold for even bigger money.
How Are NFT Domains Different from Traditional Domains?
For a proper understanding of NFT domains, a little comparison was done. We mentioned how traditional domains work to help you understand NFT domains.
Here, we are going to provide you with more details on how these domains are different. Look at these differences as an upgrade. At the start, we only had web 1.0 to connect and communicate.
One-Time Purchase
With traditional domains, you have to renew your subscription. In other words, it is a subscription-based purchase. Maybe the word purchase should be replaced with renting.
The maximum subscription for a traditional domain is 10 years. You can pay as low as a year. Once that time elapses, you have to renew your purchase. Failure to renew may mean complete loss of the domain.
The NFT domains are once bought and fully bought. There is no need for a yearly rent or subscription like with the traditional domain.
Full Ownership
Websites on the traditional domain are not fully owned by the domain name owner. As against the feeling that you own your website. That is not technically true.
The data of your website is stored on the web and accessed through your IP address. Oh, let’s leave the jargon. Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a body that regulates and censors every traditional domain.
That website you think is yours can be taken over by that body. One of the reasons for that can be if you violate their regulation. This is not so with NFT domains.
Once you purchase an NFT domain, it is fully yours. The data is yours as well. It is not stored in a centralized database.
No Need for Hosting
Yes, you read that right. With NFT domains, you don’t need to pay for hosting. In traditional web 2.0, you need a host or data storage provider to launch a website.
Paying rent for the domain name is not enough. You have to pay for hosting. This will give you a place to store your website data on servers. The servers make these data available to users.
NFT Domains offer the ease of hosting a website. You don’t need to worry about hosting. It is already in the package.
Double as a Wallet Address
You also don’t need to worry about that 41-bit character that represents your crypto wallet again. The NFT domain name represents your wallet address in a simple form.
Receiving crypto payments has never been smoother. NFT domains can be as seamless as having .X extensions. Just imagine sharing wallets for payment just on the go.
In extended use, your NFT domain can be added to social platforms too. It can be a unified username on all your social media pages. Another easy way to connect with the world, isn’t it?
Are NFT Domains Indexed by Google?
This is the major pitfall of NFT domains for now. They are not indexed by Google yet. It is the traditional domain that Google recognizes. Google does not work on blockchain technology yet.
Since the blockchain keeps advancing, we hope to see it improve on this. It is just a matter of time. We have been marveled this far by blockchain technology. We cannot lose faith now.
To Buy or Not to Buy?
It is obvious that NFT domains are rapidly becoming the next hot crypto investment. The time to plug in is now as the pace is never slow. Many have been left behind because of their doubts.
The main pitfalls of the traditional domains have been catered for with NFT domains. They are more scalable, secure, and diverse to use.
You can buy your NFT domain now or wait till it skyrockets in price. A purchase now will offer you a chance to own a digital asset. For sure, you can sell it again for a bigger price.
There are several marketplaces to buy or auction your domain for better prices. But first, you need to own an NFT domain. You can either purchase existing domains or create a unique one for yourself.
Don’t wait and watch for too long. Become an active participant in the cryptocurrency revolution. There is tons of free information for you to begin your NFT journey, I suggest you start here…