What is ANS?
ANS is the Alephium Name Service, allowing you to register unique .alph domains on the blockchain.
What is the difference between ANS and traditional DNS?
ANS is fully decentralized, censorship-resistant, and has one-time payments instead of recurring fees. You truly own your ANS name as an NFT.
How is ANS pricing structured?
Shorter names cost more ANS tokens: 1 char (800 ANS), 2 chars (700 ANS), 3 chars (600 ANS), 4 chars (500 ANS), 5 chars (400 ANS), 6 chars (300 ANS), 7 chars (200 ANS), and 8 chars (100 ANS). Registering names with 9+ characters actually mints 1 ANS token for you.
How long do registrations last?
ANS names are registered with a 1-year validity period. You can renew your name before it expires to maintain ownership. The renewal cost is the same as the initial registration.
What happens if I don't renew my name?
After the 1-year period expires, there's a 30-day grace period where you can still renew. If not renewed, the name becomes available for registration by anyone.
What characters can I use in my ANS name?
ANS names support alphanumeric characters (a-z, 0-9) and special characters. While emojis and Unicode characters are technically possible to register, most applications and wallets only properly display standard ASCII characters.
Are there any reserved names?
No, all ANS names are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Anyone can register any available name as long as they pay the required tokens.
Can I have multiple ANS names?
Yes! You can own as many ANS names as you want, and each can be configured to point to different addresses or services.
What can I do with my ANS name?
Use it as your wallet address, website URL, universal Web3 username, and digital identity.
How do I link my ANS name to my wallet?
After purchasing an ANS name, use the Alephium wallet integration to set up forward and reverse resolution, linking your name to your address.
Can I sell my ANS name?
Yes, ANS names are NFTs that can be transferred or sold on supported marketplaces.
What is the ANS token?
The ANS token is a utility token on the Alephium blockchain that enables users to register and manage .alph domains. It's needed to pay for domain registrations and renewals.
What is the total supply of ANS tokens?
There is no fixed maximum supply for ANS tokens. The supply is dynamic and represents the amount of ALPH locked in the system in exchange for renting names. The number of tokens increases as more ALPH is locked through farming.
How can I obtain ANS tokens?
There are two ways to get ANS tokens: farming (locking ALPH in the protocol) or registering long names (9+ characters) which actually mint ANS tokens instead of consuming them.
What is Farming?
Farming lets you lock ALPH in a farm NFT (0.2 ALPH increments) to mint ANS tokens instead of registering names directly.
How does ANS token farming work?
Farming allows you to lock your ALPH for ANS tokens at a rate of 5 ANS per ALPH. The locked ALPH remains inaccessible for the farming period. At the end of the period, you receive your ANS tokens and your original ALPH is returned.