Frequently-Asked Questions, Namesdao .xch names for Chia
What is Namesdao?
Namesdao is the original name service on the Chia blockchain, and issues .xch names. It was created by the Namesdao team in 2022 and uses the Chia blockchian for decentralized resolution. More Chia wallets support Namesdao .xch names than any other Chia name service.
How do you register a .xch name?
To register a .xch name, just send the registration fee in XCH or NAME to our address and include the name you want in the memo. The registration server will process your request, and if accepted, send your .xch name from Namesdao as an NFT to your wallet. If the name is not available or there is some error, (and it is not a triple-underscore name), you will receive a refund after withdrawing the reply transaction fee. The refund transaction will include a memo with information on the error. For more details, and to check name availability, visit our home page, Namesdao.
How do free .xch names work?
Namesdao would like everybody to be able to have a .xch name. We created a special section of . xch names to be able to give them away for free. This means that people who are new to the Chia blockchain can easily get a .xch name right away. The free section of namespace is for names beginning with three underscores, followed by 4 or more characters (letters or numbers). To get a .xch name for free, either get some free XCH from a faucet, or get some AIR token for free by asking in our Discord group.
How do you transfer your .xch name to a new owner or wallet?
To transfer your .xch name to a new owner or new address, you can use your wallet’s Transfer NFT capability to transfer the NFT to the new xch address. The blockchain is updated as soon as the transaction clears. And our secondary name resolver should update automatically within one to two hours maximum.
How do you send Chia to a .xch name?
To send chia (XCH) to a .xch name, you have four options. 1) Use a wallet with Namesdao .xch name resolution, like Evergreen or Frodo Wallet. 2) Use our dapp {:target=”_blank”} with a browser extension wallet like Hoogii or Goby. 3) Use our Namesdao-cli script to send it via the command-line interface. or 4) If you have your own software script, just use our secondary name resolver to resolve the .xch name to a Chia xch address and send it that way.
If I want to register a .xch name, could someone snipe it by watching the mempool?
If you send an unencrypted name registration request, then this is a possibility. However, Namesdao supports encrypted registration requests. You can generate the encrypted memo in our dapp website and then paste that encrypted memo in any Chia wallet, in your registration transaction. Registration requests are also encrypted by default using our Namesdao-cli command-line interface.
How do you renew your .xch name?
At the moment, you can only renew your .xch name once it has expired. You have 90 days of grace period during which to renew your name before it becomes available for others to register. It expires when the Chia blockchain has farmed a block number greater than the expiry block number of your name, which can be viewed in the bottom right of the NFT image, or in the metadata of your .xch name NFT.
To renew your expired name, send the standard registration amount to the registration address with the memo: MyNameWithCapitalization.xch:MyNameWithCapitalization.xch
Again, for the memo, you repeat the name twice, with a colon in the middle. You can choose a different capitalization when you renew than you had previously. You can renew a name from any wallet, you don’t have to use the same wallet that owns the name. (The renewal NFT will be sent to the same wallet as the original name at the time of expiry.)
In the future, we may upgrade this to permit renewals before expiration and via NFT-for-NFT offers and using wallet notifications, but it may make sense for us to focus development on our upcoming decentralized name registration dapp first.
Are .xch names from Namesdao centralized or decentralized?
Wallet address resolution of Namesdao .xch names is decentralized, as the blockchain is the primary source for name resolution. In this initial launch, the name registration is centralized. The team is currently developing a decentralized name registration solution using Chialisp and SmartCoins on Chia, and expects to migrate the platform to that in the future.
What if I forget to renew my .xch name and it expires?
You have approximately 90 days to renew your .xch name before others may register it.
How do you send an NFT to a .xch name?
To send an NFT to a .xch name, you can use a wallet that supports Namesdao .xch name resolution like Evergreen or Frodo Wallet. If you have your own software script, you can use our secondary name resolver to resolve the .xch name to a Chia xch address and send it that way.
How do you send Chia Asset Tokens (CAT2) to a .xch name?
To send chia (XH) to a .xch name, you have options. 1) Use a wallet with Namesdao .xch name resolution, like Evergreen or Frodo Wallet. 2) Use our dapp {:target=”_blank”} with a browser extension wallet like Hoogii or Goby. 3) If you have your own software script, just use our secondary name resolver to resolve the .xch name to a Chia xch address and send it that way.