Since 2014, Kred has owned the .Kred Top Level Domain (TLD) on the public internet and ICANN’s DNS. This has allowed .Kred users to link a personalized .Kred domain (like Jessica.Kred), to their Kred profile or personal website.
As blockchain applications increase in adoption, it’s increasingly common for a class of distributed applications (also called dApps — Leading dApp ranking site DappRadar now tracks over 3,000 of them!) to reference the user’s blockchain wallet address as their unique identifier — the wallet becomes the user’s identity.
On February 19 2020, Ethereum Name Service (ENS) Director of Operations, Brantly Millegan announced the launch of Kred’s “Major Integration of DNS and ENS”.
Kred now integrates with a user’s wallet to reflect their new blockchain identity in two ways:
- Naming: With the help of ENS, a user’s .Kred domain (the link to their profile in a normal web browser) can now also be used as a kind of nickname or alias for their blockchain wallet address.
- Authentication: Just like any social media account, Kred now lets users authenticate into their account using their blockchain wallet.
“Which is easier to tell someone to send ETH to? A 42 character hexadecimal string or something like “Jessica.Kred”?”
What is ENS?
From the ENS website:
ENS is the Ethereum Name Service, a distributed, open, and extensible naming system based on the Ethereum blockchain. ENS’s job is to map human-readable names like ‘alice.eth’ to machine-readable identifiers such as Ethereum addresses, content hashes, and metadata.
[ … ]
ENS has similar goals to DNS, the Internet’s Domain Name Service, but has significantly different architecture, due to the capabilities and constraints provided by the Ethereum blockchain. Like DNS, ENS operates on a system of dot-separated hierarchical names called domains, with the owner of a domain having full control over subdomains.
In short, ENS is a way to securely associate certain types of data with human readable names on the Ethereum blockchain, with all the benefits of trustlessness and distribution that blockchain apps bring.
“We’ve seen over 300,000 .ETH Wallet addresses already registered.
Now, integration with existing TLDs like .Kred will help build the onramp for regular, non-crypto users to enjoy decentralized apps and services.”
— Nick Johnson — Founder and Lead Developer at ENS
Benefits of ENS
Specifically, what this means is that our users can associate their Ethereum wallet address with the same .Kred domain they are using for their digital identity (eg their profile), and share that name with their contacts. ENS supporting apps can then resolve the wallet address from the human readable name.
This has clear advantages for our customers. Which is easier to tell someone to send a CryptoKitty, an NFT or ETH to? A 42 character hexadecimal string or something like “Jessica.Kred”?
ENS is not a replacement for DNS — The .Kred DNS ENS integration instead unlocks experiences of web3 with domain names users can understand.
Kred uses the DNS and ENS naming systems in parallel, where:
- A .Kred name entered in a web browser uses DNS to display a linked website
- A .Kred name entered as a recipient in a digital wallet uses ENS to send to a linked wallet address
“One of our goals is to complement and expand the capabilities of the current DNS with the Ethereum blockchain”
— Brantly Millegan — Director of Operations at ENS
Managing Wallets
For users to realize the benefits of this major integration, we need a great user experience. The Kred Wallets panel introduces a clean and simple interface where the customer can connect their favorite wallet and associate their .Kred domain with that wallet address in a single click.
Users who connect their wallet during signup have this connection established automatically.
Managing your Kred DNS ENS Domain
Every .Kred DNS ENS Domain is registered on the blockchain with a unique Kred Domain Token.
The Kred Domain Token is like the key to manage the associated .Kred name on both DNS (where the domain links on the web) and ENS (the connected wallets).
.Kred Domain Tokens use the ERC-721 token standard, meaning:
- You can hold your .Kred Domain Token in any Ethereum wallet that supports this token standard.
No wallet? No problem — Kred securely creates a free wallet for users who don’t already have one. This means users can connect they way they’re used to doing so (email and password or linked social accounts) to access their new digital wallet. - You can instantly transfer, or easily trade your .Kred Domain Token on digital asset exchanges, like OpenSea.
Why is that important? Because Kred Domain Tokens transfer the control of the associated name, and not a transfer of the name from one registrar (eg GoDaddy) to another — Transfers are instant.
- Transfer or sale of a traditional DNS domain name can be troublesome. It typically involves the domain holder providing the recipient with a unique key (called an AuthCode), which they must enter into the account of their receiving domain registrar. The transfer of a traditional DNS domain name can be blocked by a “Registrar Lock” or delayed for up to 60 days (often when the name has been recently registered, renewed or transferred).
Pre-Registration is OPEN until April 3
Between March 20 and May 3, OpenSea will host a major auction for premium and popular .Kred DNS ENS names.
On Friday 20 March, 10 of the most sought after names will be released in a special 7 day auction:
- DeFi.Kred
- Exchange.Kred
- Wallet.Kred
- ETH.Kred
- Dapp.Kred
- Cash.Kred
- Fred.Kred
- Satoshi.Kred
- HODL.Kred
- Amazon.Kred
From Friday April 3, 2,500 premium and popular .Kred names will be available for bidding — The winner of each auction receiving control of the associated name on both DNS and ENS.
Prior to the April 3 auction, Kred is accepting Pre-Registration of standard and Brand names.
Pre-Registration is $99 (renewable at $99/yr — 0.5 ETH as of March 9, 2020) and allows individuals to secure their preferred standard name before the major auctions commence on April 3. Brands may also claim their name during Pre-Registration for the same price, to avoid it being listed in the OpenSea auctions.
From April 3, standard names that are not included in the OpenSea auctions will be available for registration for $29/yr (0.15 ETH as of March 9, 2020).
After the OpenSea auctions close on May 3, any unsold .Kred DNS ENS names will be released in 3 simple price points (also payable in ETH):
- Standard Names: $29/yr (0.15 ETH as of March 9, 2020)
- Premium Tier 1: $160/yr (0.82 ETH as of March 9, 2020)
- Premium Tier 2: $640/yr (3.26 ETH as of March 9, 2020)
Pre-Register your .Kred DNS ENS Domain before April 3 on Domains.Kred
Interested in becoming a .Kred Domain Reseller Partner? Visit Domains.Kred/partners
***March 18 2020 COVID-19 Update***
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kred is making some changes to the OpenSea .Kred DNS ENS Domain Token auctions, scheduled to commence this Friday 20 March.
A special 7 day auction will go ahead this Friday 20 March with a sample of 10 of the most sought after names.
- DeFi.Kred
- Exchange.Kred
- Wallet.Kred
- ETH.Kred
- Dapp.Kred
- Cash.Kred
- Fred.Kred
- Satoshi.Kred
- HODL.Kred
- Amazon.Kred
The complete .Kred DNS ENS Domain auction (list) will commence Friday 3 April.
Dates changed in article to reflect update.
