How to Register a .sol Domain

Getting in to Solana crypto and want to capture a .sol domain for Solana? This tutorial/blog captures my learning as I purchased my first .sol address for Web 3. The guide presumes only a baseline knowledge of blockchain and Solana practices.

Table of Contents

• Web 2 Addresses
• Web 3 Wallets
• Hot & Cold Wallets
• Solana Wallets
• Understanding .sol Domain
• Auction Under Way
• Swapping Token In Phantom
• Domain Bidding on Bonfida
• Phantom Wallet USDC Payment
• Domain Secured
• Conclusion

Web 2 Addresses

On the traditional internet (Web 2), every user is familiar with using Universal Resource Locators, commonly referred to as URLs, in order to access web platforms, services, apps and sites.

Even if users don't understand the underlying mechanism of using URLs/URIs to access their content, the base action remains the same:

1. User enters a URL in their browser (https://www.daz.dev)
2. Browser connects to nearest DNS server to lookup the associated IP address (76.76.21.21)
3. The browser resolves to the server and servers the content via the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (http://)

In this traditional setting, a web developer or tech-savvy user would purchase a domain from a domain registrar (such as GoDaddy or Google Domains) and then set the DNS A Record to point to their hosting server's IP address.

Web 3 Wallets

Even with 10 years professional experience as a web dev, transferring my knowledge and translating my practices from Web 2 > Web 3 has been a mildly challenging and intimidating process.

It's one of my principal reasons for starting this blog.

In the paradigm of Web 3, resources are classified as wallets.

Investopedia provides the following description:

"A blockchain wallet is a digital wallet that allows users to store and manage their Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies. A blockchain wallet allows transfers in cryptocurrencies and the ability to convert them back into a user's local currency."

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain-wallet.asp

For the purposes of reference, consider a Web 3 wallet like a Web 2 server; an online location that stores assets that we want to reference.

Hot & Cold Wallets

There's a common concept of utilising "hot" and "cold" wallets to store crypto assets.

• Hot Wallet: Connected to the internet, a daily driver for live trading, minting NFTs, sending & receiving assets
• Cold Wallet: Built on a physical ledger device, typically connected via USB and can offer additional protections such as pins, passcodes and biometrics

Cryptopedia offers a comprehensive writeup that is recommended reading.

In our case, we are leveraging a browser-hosted hot wallet for convenience and speed.

Solana Wallets

On Solana, a number of wallet options exist, check out this comprehensive guide by Solana Compass for a number of options.

I decided to use the OG browser extension for Chrome called Phantom App.

Installation is simple:

Phantom Wallet in the Google Chrome Web Store

Follow the onboarding advice here: https://phantom.app/help/getting-started

Wallets are represented by a unique 42 digit alphanumeric string, for example: A3d5aUNKyN23g3X3dCcn5h2peL4vPvPK9U7uiPl9QR.

While using this string to reference your browser wallet is perfectly valid (just like typing an IP address directly into the browser address bar will still resolve), it can be a little clunky if used frequently or displayed publicly.

Wouldn't it be cool to have human readable string instead?

Understanding .sol Domain

Like URLs are used to represent Web 2 server IP addresses, .sol domains can be registered to represent Solana wallets, acting as a human-readable pointer to the underlying unique identification strings.

Bonfida is a Solana-based company that offers an ever growing ecosystem of products across many facets of the blockchain experience. That includes a Domain Naming Service, that allows users to register desired Solana domains.

In my case, I want to secure daz.sol to represent one of my wallets.

The process involves registering the desired domain, which is immediately minted before triggering an automated 7 day auction.

Auction Under Way

This auction process is designed to offer some fairness to distributing desirable domains.

It's a little unnerving not being able to purchase outright, but I have to hope that everyone will chill on my domain. It looks like the majority of personal domains retain their default floor and aren't aggressively outbid, so hopefully I can secure this.

Only 6 days to find out...

Swapping Token In Phantom

Bidding is done in USDC and not the SOL currency, so it requires swapping tokens inside of the wallet.

Luckily, trading SOL → USDC is easily facilitated without leaving the Phantom browser wallet.

It's a simple as accessing the Trading dashboard from the middle menu item, and purchase from your base wallet current into the desired currently.

The official reference is available here: https://phantom.app/blog/swapping-tokens

The transaction should take seconds.

Note: A protocol update to Bonfida scheduled for 15 Nov 2021 will change the payment currency from USDC to FIDA. Auction durations will be reduced from 7 days to 3 days.

Phantom Wallet

Domain Bidding on Bonfida

The minimum permissible bid for a .sol domain is 21.01 USDC.

With your wallet equipped with sufficient USDC, simply connect it to the service Bonfida service by clicking the primary call-to-action.

With your wallet connected, you can then submit a bid. The website platform will then open your wallet for approval of the transaction. Notifications should quickly confirm the transaction and acknowledge your bid.

Note that this can be an occasionally glitchy process with desynchronisation occasionally experienced. In this case a page refresh, wallet reconnect and bid resubmission would realign everything as intended.

Phantom Wallet USDC Payment

If you don't anticipate your domain to be contested, bidding the minimum 21.01 USDC should suffice as the opening bid.

The user experience is pretty minimal, but if you do find yourself outbid, you must claim the funds of your previously leading bid back into your wallet. Once received, the user interface will prompt for you to resubmit a higher bid. Minimum raises are required to increment by approx $5USDC each time.

Each bid will reset the timer to 10 minutes, so you have time to consider your next move, and complete trades between wallets or currencies if required.

After seven days of inaction on daz.sol, a cheeky 25 USDC bid was submitted with seven minutes to go. I responded immediately, which sparked approximately 20 rounds of bids over an hour or so (it was fun, anon).

Almost!

Got it!

Domain Secured

I did fear I was up against a whale, as bidding was fast, but thankfully I was successful and consider the price fair for a three-letter domain. Although $190 USD is the most I've paid for a single domain to date, I was comfortable with this as an investment into my Web3 presence and digital brand.

It's worth noting that there are no annual renewals with .sol domains; you retain lifetime ownership for the initial cost, unless you decide to sell.

With a domain secured, you're offered to purchase storage. The SOL fees are negligible, so just choose the maximum 10kB on offer.

A view of the .sol domain in the asset dashboard

Conclusion

That wraps this tutorial. Thanks for reading, I hope this content proved useful in securing your own .sol domain. In a followup article, I will figure out how to configure my address against a wallet or hosted assets and learn more about building for the next generation of the internet.

If you have any questions, feedback or corrections on this article, please hit me up on Twitter @dazdotdev. If you remain uncertain about the process, drop me a mail on [email protected] and I'd be glad to schedule support.