Staking Handshake TLDs

TLDs are staked on the Handshake (opens in a new tab) blockchain and then bridged over to the registry protocol on the Optimism (opens in a new tab) blockchain. After staking at Namebase.io (opens in a new tab) the TLD owner is able to claim a new TLD NFT, which grants the ability to create subdomains. The holder of the TLD NFT receives 95% of all subdomain registration fees. The remaining 5% is collected for the Handshake Dev Fund to be put towards further ecosystem development. The TLD NFT holder may set a variety of pricing options for subdomain registrations, including premium and reserved domains.

Staking & Registration Fees

Staking Handshake TLDs at Namebase.io (opens in a new tab) costs $100/USD per domain in $HNS. Additionally, claiming the TLD NFT on Optimism requires a $1 claim fee. This $1 goes to the Handshake Dev Fund. In the future we hope to implement trustless staking between the chains, and at that point the staking fees may change in order to properly incentivize the bridge. All TLDs start out with registrations disabled. The TLD owner must first configure pricing before enabling subdomain registrations.

5% of each subdomain registration goes to the Handshake Dev Fund. The minimum registration cost for subdomains is $1. The minimum fee collected for the Handshake Dev Fund is thus $0.05 per registration. The TLD owner is always able to register subdomains for $1, in which case $0.95 of the registration fee is returned immediately to the TLD owner.

Unstaking TLDs

Handshake TLD domains may only be unstaked when they have no active subdomain registrations. Unstaking is a two step process that requires a signature from both the TLD owner and one of the designated TLD Claim Managers.