Frequently Asked Questions

About the Domains Registry

Why are names registered as hashes?

Hashes provide a fixed length identifier that can easily be passed around between contracts with fixed overhead and no issues passing around variable-length strings.

Which wallets and dapps support Domains so far?

A partial list can be seen on our homepage

Once I own a name, can I create my own subdomains?

Yes. You can create whatever subdomains you wish and assign ownership of them to other people if you desire. You can even set up your own registrar for your domain.

Can I change the address my name points to after I’ve bought it?

Yes, you can update the addresses and other resources pointed to by your name at any time.

Can I register a TLD of my own in the Domains?

No. We consider Domains to be part of the 'global namespace' inhabited by DNS, and so we do our best not to pollute that namespace. Tomi-specific TLDs are restricted to only .tomi and .com (on mainnet), plus any special purpose TLDs such as those required to permit reverse lookups.

In addition to that, we are deploying support for importing DNS domains from the majority of DNS top-level domains using an integration that relies on DNSSEC.

Who owns the Domains rootnode? What powers does that grant them?

In this case it is operated by DAO, the root node ownership would be transferred to a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), which would manage the system and make decisions using transparent and democratic processes. The DAO would hold the root keys, which would be controlled by a consensus mechanism that allows members to vote on proposals for changes to the Domains system.

The powers of the DAO as the owner of the root node would include administrative changes such as introducing new TLDs or recovering from emergencies. The DAO would also have the ability to replace contracts that govern issuing and managing domains, but this would require a consensus decision among its members.

The DAO would be responsible for managing the allocation and replacement of TLDs, enabling and disabling controllers for the registrar, updating pricing for names, and managing registration revenue. These powers would also be subject to consensus decision-making among the members of the DAO.

In a fully decentralized Domains system, the powers currently held by the root node, such as setting pricing and renewal conditions for domains, would be decentralized to the members of the DAO through a robust system that allows for transparent and democratic decision-making. This would reduce the need for human control over the system and ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of the entire community.

What about foreign characters? What about upper case letters? Is any unicode character valid?

Since the Domains contracts only deal with hashes, they have no direct way to enforce limits on what can be registered; character length restrictions are implemented by allowing users to challenge a short name by providing its preimage to prove it’s too short.

This means that you can in theory register both ‘xyz.tomi’ and ‘xyz.tomi’, or even <picture of my cat>.eth. However, resolvers such as browsers and wallets should apply the nameprep algorithm to any names users enter before resolving; as a result, names that are not valid outputs of nameprep will not be resolvable by standard resolvers, making them effectively useless. Dapps that assist users with registering names should prevent users from registering unresolvable names by using nameprep to preprocess names being requested for registration.

What are the differences between Domains and other naming services such as Namecoin and Handshake?

Domains complements and extends the usefulness of DNS with decentralised, trustworthy name resolution for web3 resources such as blockchain addresses and distributed content, while Namecoin and Handshake are efforts to replace all or part of DNS with a blockchain-based alternative.

About the .tomi Permanent Registrar

How do the Domains Manager App and the Twitter bot know what names people are buying?

The Domains Manager App and the Twitter bot have built-in lists of common names, drawn from an English dictionary and Alexa’s list of top 1 million Internet domain names. They use these lists to show you when common names are bought or renewed. We do this because if the app didn’t reveal these names, anyone with a little technical skill could find them out anyway, giving them an advantage over those who don’t have the capacity to build their own list and code to check names against it.

What kinds of behaviours are likely to result in losing ownership of a name?

The .tomi and .com registrar is structured such that names, once issued, cannot be revoked so long as an active registration is maintained.