FAQ

Who runs EtherNames?

Nobody, and that is a feature. The contract is immutable and ownerless: no admin functions, no upgrade path, no treasury. This website (EtherNames) is a community interface to it; if this site disappeared tomorrow, your names and every feature of the protocol would keep working through any other interface, or Etherscan directly.

Why does registration need two transactions?

To protect you from front-running. See Registration. The short version: your first transaction hides the name, the second one claims it, and the mandatory 60-second gap makes sniping impossible.

What if I close the page between the two transactions?

Nothing is lost. Your in-progress registration (including the secret it needs) is stored in your browser and shown on the Register page until you finish or discard it. You can also export it as a JSON backup. Only clearing your browser’s site data can destroy the secret, so do not do that with a registration in flight.

How much does everything cost?

Most names cost 0.0005 ETH per year (5+ characters; see Pricing for short names). On top of that you pay ordinary Ethereum gas: two transactions for registration, one for each record you set. The site shows the estimate before you confirm.

What image do marketplaces show for my name?

Your name’s registry certificate. The image is drawn entirely onchain by the NameCard contract: a branded card derived deterministically from your name, shown live in grace or expired states. It cannot be changed or taken down. If you prefer your own image on this site and compatible apps, set the avatar record. See Records.

Can someone with a similar-looking name impersonate me?

Unicode allows visually confusable names (аlice with a Cyrillic а vs alice). The contract only enforces byte-level validity; interfaces are responsible for warnings. This site applies strict Unicode normalization to non-ASCII names and flags them visibly. When in doubt, check the name’s tokenId or the address it resolves to.

What happens to my records if my name expires?

During the 90-day grace period the name stops resolving but your data is intact: renew and everything comes back. Renewals are permissionless, so a friend can renew for you if you are away, and it always extends the registration for the current owner. If the name passes through grace unrenewed and is registered by someone else, all your records are wiped and the new owner starts clean.

I re-registered a name I used to own. Anything to watch out for?

Cancel any old marketplace listings you ever made for it. A re-registered name keeps the same token id, and marketplace orders live off-chain: if an old listing of yours has not expired and your marketplace approval is still in place, getting the name back can make that old listing fillable again at its old price. This is a marketplace mechanic, not a contract flaw.

Can I change or remove my primary name?

Yes, at any time, from the manage page of any name you own, or clear it entirely. The contract also stops honoring it automatically if the name expires or stops resolving to your address.

Is there a token?

The protocol runs entirely on ETH. Every fee is burned, removed from supply the same way EIP-1559 burns gas, so each registration makes ETH itself a little scarcer. Be careful with anyone selling something in the protocol’s name: the contract is the only source of truth.