Venly Expert Talks: The future of ENS (Ethereum Name Services), with Unstoppable Domains

On August 27th, 10am EST we hosted a live AMA with the team from Unstoppable Domains in our Venly Discord Channel. First up was a muted session during which Venly and Unstoppable Domains talked about their recent integration and plans for the future. At the end of the AMA we unmuted the chat and the community were able to post their questions. We thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with the Unstoppable Domains team and look forward to what they will innovate in the future. We have provided a recap of the AMA below.

First part of the Expert Talk

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: Hey all! Looking forward to the questions and very excited about our integration with Venly

Yan Ketelers | Venly: There we go! Let’s kick it off. Thanks Mago for joining! Was really cool to work on the integration with you and Mikelmp.txt. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your journey with Unstoppable Domains.

Oh! for people that don’t know: Venly now supports blockchain domain names powered by Unstoppable Domains! This technology makes it possible for you to send assets to a domain with a simple username like venly.crypto, which is then linked to multiple addresses for BTC, LTC, ETH, and many more via Unstoppable Domains. The domain itself is an NFT that is user-owned and controlled in your Ethereum wallet.

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: Hey everyone! Happy to be here. I’m Mago, I’m part of the marketing at Unstoppable Domains, more specifically I manage all our social media channels. I started as a community manager in 2019 and recently had my 2 year anniversary. I think we were only 8 team members when I joined, now we’re over 50!

Yan Ketelers | Venly: Congrats!! Impressive

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: That’s right! thanks for the quick intro

Yan Ketelers | Venly: No Problem. How long have you been working in blockchain?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: So, I bought my first Bitcoin in 2013 not really understanding the underlying technology so kinda forgot about it. But got back into it in 2016 when someone gave me a book explaining the blockchain tech and fell deep into the rabbit hole. After my graduation I only worked for blockchain companies, UD is my third one.

Yan Ketelers | Venly: That’s cool. Same here! Once in blockchain, always in blockchain. 2013 is early! About blockchaing (gaming). I’m a huge fan of the projects you can see in our left pannel, like 👻 Aavegotchi doing a haunt 2 atm. What are your favorite projects Mago?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: Yes, but I lost my Bitcoin that I bought in 2013, it was on some exchange that doesn’t exist anymore.

Besides Unstoppable Domains? Jk! there are many cool projects out there. Hard to pick one but I would have to go with Pooltogether. I just think it’s a genius idea for DeFi to have a lottery where you can’t lose. And even if you don’t win, you get a weekly yield of their native token. Also like Reddit’s Moon token for their r/Cryptocurrency subreddit, I think it’s an interesting idea.

Yan Ketelers | Venly: Nice! Have to check it out, didn’t know it until now. Seems fun.

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: yea, for some reason it’s not that popular.

Yan Ketelers | Venly: Now about UD, in your words: What is Unstoppable Domains? What can I do with my personal UD? SIDENOTE: everyone can shoot their questions in about 15mins to make a chance to win UD credits

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: Unstoppable Domains is a registry business similar to Verisign, the owner of .com, but we build our domains on blockchains. Thus, blockchain domains. Blockchain domains allow you to replace all your cryptocurrency addresses with a simple name like venly.crypto. When someone wants to pay you, they just write the domain in the recipient field in wallets like Venly and press send. Easy!

With the same domain, you can also launch decentralized websites. Your domain in stored in your wallet just like cryptocurrency and the content is hosted on decentralized storage networks like IPFS. Nobody will be able to take the website down other than you. Those are the primary 2 use cases right now, but more features are on the way

Yan Ketelers | Venly: k cool, so venly.crypto, yean.crypto, …. What other extensions do you support?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: You can choose from 10 different extensions: .crypto .zil .wallet .blockchain .nft .888 .dao .x .coin .bitcoin

Yan Ketelers | Venly: Is a domain an NFT? On what blockchain and can holders resell it?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: Yes, 9 of our domain extensions are NFTs on Ethereum. You can resell them like any other NFT on marketplaces such as Opensea and Rarible. .zil is on the only one that is on Zilliqa blockchain, you can resell it on Mintable. Opensea and Rarible only read the Ethereum blockchain, that’s the reason.

Yan Ketelers | Venly: ok cool, so not on Venly.market since we support Polygon, BSC, Avalanche and Hedera. Not Ethereum yet

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: It would be cool to have to on Venly as well! Maybe some day

Yan Ketelers | Venly: We’re also doing a giveaway for the people in the AMA only. 5 winners get $40 in credits for best questions. Can you explain how that will work to the audience? And what they can do with credits?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: I will pick and answer 5 best questions from the live AMA later. If your question gets answered, that means you win $40 store credits. You can DM me after the AMA and I will make sure you get them.

Yan Ketelers | Venly: roger that!

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: You will be able to use those store credits towards a blockchain domain!

Yan Ketelers | Venly: makes sense, so you can chose your own right?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: Yes, and depending on which you choose, you are able get a free one (or more). Pricing of domains start from $5

Yan Ketelers | Venly: BUT!!! Assume that Unstoppable Domains cease to exist as a company. Will I be able to manage my domain from a different company/website?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: That’s a good question. Once a user claims a domain to his wallet, it leaves our system and the owner takes full custody because it is now on the blockchain and protected by a private key. This means that, no matter what happens to Unstoppable Domains, the domain will always exist on the blockchain under the owner’s control.

However

What would happen to the tools on our website if we were to no longer exist? How would you manage your domains? Well, we offer all the tools you need to manage your domain on a blockchain domain — unstoppable.crypto — a fully decentralized solution that we can ensure will be around forever!

Also, since the domains are on the blockchain, anyone can build the tools that we have for domain management by reading the blockchain themselves.

For example, you can also manage blockchain domains with Etherscan if you’re a little technical.

Yan Ketelers | Venly: Thanks, makes sense! That’s great, I’m not that technical but we have many devs here. Last few questions: Do blockchain domains have renewal fees?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: They don’t! Once you buy a domain, you own it forever — no renewal fees.

Yan Ketelers | Venly: Epic! What other wallets than Venly work with unstoppable domains?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: Blockchain domains are integrated with over 70 different apps, wallets and exchanges — including Venly. You can find the full list of supported apps on our website — https://unstoppabledomains.com/apps

Yan Ketelers | Venly: epic! Now more technical question: How are blockchain domains different from the regular ones?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: Besides having more features like payments, the most important distinction is custody. You store your domain in your cryptocurrency wallet. This means only you can move it around or make updates to it. Domains are assets on the blockchain (NFTs), this is also why you can use domain to build decentralized websites. Traditional domains like .com are on centralized servers controlled by ICANN.

Yan Ketelers | Venly: Ok! Love decentralized! How does Unstoppable Domain’s stand out from the competitors?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: So, we don’t really see whatever is happening in the crypto world as the competition. Verisign, owner of .com and the traditional domain industry is the competition. Some consider us a competitor to ENS but we’re more fans on their project. We’re technically similar, the main difference is that we don’t have renewal fees and we have different goals. ENS wants to move Ethereum forward and be part of the existing DNS. Our plan is to move the entire crypto space forward and become a serious competitor to DNS. We are blockchain and cryptocurrency agnostic that’s why we have 10 different extensions to fit everyone’s needs. We also think it’s important for users completely own their assets online, that’s why we also charge a one-time fee for your domain and you own it forever.

Yan Ketelers | Venly: Great positioning! I like that! And final question from me (before we open to the public here)!! Are you guys working on anything new and exciting?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: There are many things we’re working on but launhcing a Lyer 2 solution is our main focus right now. Most of our domains are built on Ethereum and as many of you know, Ethereu fees are high right now which makes it expensive to use blockchain domains. Every time you want to make changes to your domain (add addresses, launch websites) you need to pay Gas. Our upcoming L2 will allow us to pay for the fees of our users and will result in a seamless UX for domain usage and adoption. Very much looking forward to have our L2 live! I feel like when we have our L2, we could also integrate with venly.market. But I can’t say more big hint right there.

Yan Ketelers | Venly: YES!! Venly.market I see. If I did it right, now everyone can type their questions. so shoot!

Community Questions

Goob: Why did unstoppable domains providing Domain name NFT after purchase a Domain ? If Domain owner sell that NFT , will he lost the acess to Domain ?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: To make it easier for people purchase domains. You can buy a domain without worrying about having crypto in your wallet. You can pay with credit card or paypal and people can wait with claiming until Gas fees are lower. It’s just better UX for users that are not familiar with crypto. You can sell the domain after claiming when it’s an NFT, you will then transfer the ownership to the buyer.

Goob: Is there any Fees to keep my domain after i purchase a Domain ? I should pay any extra charges for using that domain like monthly or annually ?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: No extra fees, you own the domain completely and forever. Currently you need to pay Gas to manage the domain but that’s temporary until we have our L2. We will be covering the fees completely for our users and it will be all a seamless UX.

Improssible: When can we expect Layer 2 to launch?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: No exact date, but somewhere late 2021, it’s our main focus this year.

Improsible: What is a function of the blockchain domain are you excited about to have working in the near future?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: I love the payment part. If you think about it, the reason the internet took off is because we made it easier to browse website by masking IP addresses with domains. Instead of typing an random number into your browser, you can just type in a domain and surf the web. This is essentially what we’re doing to crypto addresses with blockchain domains. I like the phrase: pay people, not addresses

glad4: When will Google browsing support be available and why wasn’t it the priority when UD launched?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: You have to think from Google’s point of view. They will probably only be interested once there are more websites launched and the tech s more adopted. Right now, there are only 30K+ decentralized websites live, it will take a few years to grow that number into millions. But once we do, that’s probably when Google and other big players will show real interest. Conversations are happening, but it will take a while.

mistervan: What happens if someone registers a domain name just for the sake of being the first where the person clearly is not owning the IP for it? Meaning, I would register cocacola.wallet where it is clear my goal is to sell it in the future hopefully to coca cola

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: This is the reason why we protect names of big brands and we are actively working on onboarding them to web3. It’s important for the whole ecosystem for everyone to own their respective domain names. That’s how adoption happens.

glad4: How do unstoppable domains feel about the community not being happy about the delay of L2 and resell market?

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: We understand the community, it is frustrating and a bottleneck for us too because it affects integrations. But we’re working on it, it took a while to choose an L2 that fits us best, but we’re already building on it and it will be released in phases. First claiming, managing, etc. I think there is announcement planned soon about which L2 and how we’re rolling it out. Appreciate the patience there.

Yan Ketelers | Venly: We’re running of time here. Got great questions!!! Mago you’re free to answer more when you find the time or stick around here. BIG THANKS for joining and all that info!!! I’ll let you pick the best questions and DM the winners (please share the names with me as well so it’s fully transparent here)

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: Thanks everyone, if you want an answer to your questions. Feel free to ask it again and tag me here.

g2entgroup: I think we know what L2

Yan Ketelers | Venly: You know

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: shhhh, I might get in trouble for giving that hint

Yan Ketelers | Venly: Have a great day y’all !!

Improssible: I think it’s a tough question to answer, businesses are profit-making in general. And we can all see UD is trying their best to be as community-centred as they can too. e.g. this discord AMA session. I felt bad for putting UD on the spot like that ahahaha

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: it was a valid question, we said August and didn’t deliver so I understand the frustration. All I can say is we’re doing our best. oh wait it’s this question profit-making or community-centred?

Improssible: Appreciate the honesty, Mago. UD is my first NFT purchase, and one of the highest potential NFT by utility in my opinion. Keep it up!

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: Yea it’s a tough one to answer, I mean we’re a for-profit company but we also care about our community, we wouldn’t be anywhere without you guys. When we have big releases, we make sure we think about the community like with 100 mil airdorp. Also we offer 24–7 support across all channels. Not sure what the best answer is.

glad4: Yh that sounds fair enough. I know with unstoppable domains its not all about money but is something like replicating the success of domains doing well in resell market something UD see as a plus

Mago Tsanajev| Unstoppable Domains: haha, man, resell convos are tricky. We care about it, let me say it that way

Mikelmp.txt: Big thanks to Mago for crushing it during the AMA. I’ll add that community building is super important to us because we truly want to help make Web3 a reality, which we can’t without the strength of the community. I’d recommend you go check out our Discord below, where we’re guiding and rewarding others for helping build new features, apps, integrations and more!

For further questions please visit the #unstoppable-domain channel on our Discord server.

About Unstoppable Domains

Unstoppable Domains is onboarding users onto Web3 with user-owned and controlled blockchain domain names that are the standard for sending and receiving crypto and accessing decentralized websites. Unstoppable Domains’ blockchain usernames are supported by 70+ wallets, apps, exchanges, and browsers that work across 275+ cryptocurrencies. The company was founded in 2018 and is backed by Draper Associates along with grants from the Ethereum Foundation.