NFDomains passes 69,766 minted .algo names across 40,678 wallets
Every Algorand account is identified by a 58-character string — secure and permanent, but brutal to type from memory. NFDomains, the name service built by the development studio TxnLab, sells the alternative: a non-fungible domain (NFD), a human-readable .algo name such as staci.algo that is registered [on-chain](/glossary/on-chain "Describes transactions that are recorded and permanently stored on a blockchain ledger, making them publicly visible and tamper-resistant.") and works anywhere a wallet address would go. The platform's own analytics now count 69,766 names minted across 40,678 unique owners — a scale that has made it the ecosystem's default name service.
What a Name Actually Is
An NFD is not a pointer stored in a database; it is an [Algorand Standard Asset](/glossary/algorand-standard-asset "A built-in mechanism that allows anyone to create and issue new tokens (like stablecoins, utility tokens, or NFTs) directly on Algorand's base layer, ") (a token minted directly on Algorand's base layer, the same mechanism the chain uses for stablecoins and NFTs) paired with its own smart contract. The contract stores the name's metadata and controls a vault account, so a name is also a custody point that can hold and send assets in its own right. One registry contract serves as the permissionless registrar for the entire .algo top-level domain, and names have no [clawback](/glossary/clawback "A feature in some blockchain assets allowing an authorized address to forcibly reclaim tokens from a user’s wallet. It introduces centralized control ") mechanism — control belongs to the owner for as long as the registration is paid.
The practical value is resolution — reading a name and returning the account and records behind it, and turning any address back into a name:
| Concept | Real-World Implication |
|---|---|
| Forward resolution | A wallet can pay staci.algo instead of a raw address string, and any app that resolves the name also loads its avatar, social links and linked addresses |
| Reverse resolution | Explorers and dApps can display a human-readable name beside an address instead of the raw string, so a recognizable account stays recognizable |
| Verified metadata | Twitter, Discord and Bluesky handles can be verified on-chain; verification is what makes reverse resolution trustworthy, because without it anyone could paste a stranger's address into their own name |
| Vault account | Each NFD controls its own on-chain account that can hold and send ALGO and assets, effectively making the name a receiving point for others and a store for the owner |
| Segment subdomains | Root owners can unlock minting of sub-names like thicc.gullygang.algo at a price they set; AlgoDirectory uses the model to sell segments of directory.algo |
The identity itself is portable: an NFD can carry linked addresses for up to 15 blockchains, so the same name can label accounts on other networks or in later wallets. A documented API offers forward and reverse lookup, vault transfers and consensus metrics, and the docs promise that integrating resolution is 'a few lines of code'. Sixty-plus ecosystem projects already do — wallets like Pera and Defly, explorers like Allo, and DeFi apps like Folks Finance.
A Market With Real Traction, and a Quiet Month
Measured in ALGO, the marketplace is real but modest. Cumulative primary sales (new registrations) stand at 6,839,714 ALGO; trading of secondhand names has added 832,665 ALGO, and segment sales 579,723. The recent cadence is much quieter: in the past 30 days the platform logged 11,506 ALGO of primary sales, 1,227 of secondary, and 821 in segments — about 13,500 ALGO combined, roughly $1,060 at the current price near $0.078.
Supply shows where the value sits. Of the 69,766 names, 9,048 — about one in eight — are listed for sale. At the top, the single-letter b.algo carries an asking price of 111,111 ALGO; its last recorded sale, in August 2023, was 5,861 ALGO. Two-character names from 0b.algo to 0o.algo sit at a uniform 1,000 ALGO each.
From One-Time Purchase to Yearly Renewal
NFDomains launched on [mainnet](/glossary/mainnet "The main public blockchain network where transactions are recorded and have real value, as opposed to a test network used for experimentation.") on June 4, 2022 with a one-time purchase model; in 2022 the project promised 'We will never charge any renewal fees'. The V3 upgrade in late 2024 reversed that for new names, switching to yearly renewals priced in USD and paid in ALGO, explicitly to deter speculative squatting and keep the protocol self-sustaining. Everyone who already owned a V1 or V2 name was grandfathered into lifetime ownership — early buyers kept the 2022 promise.
Fees scale inversely with name length — a segment costs $5 a year plus any fee the root owner sets, while the rarest one-character names run $315:
Chart: Yearly fee for an NFD, by name length (USD)
A 2% annual inflation parameter (first adjustment scheduled for September 2025) applies on top, and no name can be registered more than 20 years ahead. Minting also carries a one-time cost of about 2.5 ALGO for on-chain storage. Registrations expire when unpaid, entering a 28-day reverse auction that starts at $100,000 and falls back to the standard renewal price; the original owner keeps a grace-period right to renew at the normal rate throughout, and an expired name must have its metadata cleared — a task automated services can perform in exchange for the returned storage deposit.
Anyone can try the service today on mainnet: connect any major Algorand wallet (Pera, Defly, Exodus, Lute, Kibisis, or anything over [WalletConnect](/glossary/walletconnect "A protocol that lets a web app connect to a cryptocurrency wallet (such as Pera or Defly on Algorand) by scanning a QR code, so the app can read the w")), search an alphanumeric name in the mint tab — letters A–Z and digits 0–9, no special characters — and pay the fee in ALGO.
The Name Is Also a Domain
The more unusual product decision is that every NFD is a real domain. Append .xyz to a name — silvio.algo becomes silvio.algo.xyz — and it resolves in any browser. That works because nfd-coredns, an open-source CoreDNS plugin from TxnLab, serves the zone by reading Algorand chain state: it strips the .xyz suffix, loads the name's on-chain records, and converts them into standard DNS answers. TxnLab and Nodely each operate a resolver, and anyone can run their own from the project's Docker image.
Because the records live in the smart contract, an owner can configure a website (A/AAAA or CNAME records — the docs walk through hosting on Vercel or Netlify), email (MX records via Gmail or ProtonMail), SSL issuance controls (CAA), and verification records (TXT for SPF, DMARC and platform checks). Every name also gets a .algo.xyz profile-page redirect that can be pointed anywhere. The chain is the DNS database, and the resolver is open code — no registrar in the middle.
A Bluesky Handle That Lives On-Chain
That same DNS plumbing produced NFDomains' most visible feature. 'GM, Bluesky!' announced the launch of Bluesky handle support on November 18, 2024. Bluesky lets any account replace its default handle with a domain it controls, proving ownership by publishing a DNS TXT record that points at the account's DID — its global Decentralized Identifier. NFDomains automates both halves: the user pastes the DID into the name's on-chain fields, the platform publishes the _atproto TXT record the network requires, and the handle becomes name.algo.xyz. A leaderboard tracks verified handles — 37 so far, with the Algorand Foundation at number two — and segments are excluded from the feature.
Some of the earliest adopters' handles no longer resolve: staci.algo.xyz, marcvl.algo.xyz, alexacarr.algo.xyz and ganainmtech.algo.xyz are flagged 'Invalid Handle' on the platform's own feeds. The public record does not fully explain why — a transferred name, an expired registration or a removed verification would each produce the result — but it is a fair reminder that a live identity needs someone keeping it alive.
The Company Behind the Names
TxnLab, the studio that built and operates the registry, is an Algorand-first development shop co-founded by CEO Patrick Bennett, an engineer with four decades in the industry, and John Mizzoni. The project received an Algorand Foundation grant in January 2022 and closed a $1.25 million seed round led by Borderless Capital and GoldenTree Asset Management the same month, months before the June 2022 mainnet launch.
The team puts its own infrastructure where its product is: NFDomains operates a Réti staking validator (Réti is Algorand's pooled-staking protocol), validator2.nfdomains.algo, with 1.29 million ALGO staked across 19 participants, a 5% commission and a 5,000 ALGO minimum entry. The project has no token — the FAQ's answer to 'Are you launching a token?' is 'No.' — and its Discord counts 3,036 members.
The honest scoreboard is mixed. Real scale, a documented 60+ integrations, open infrastructure — and, measured in monthly volume, a still-niche market. What the project has built underneath is durable regardless: a permissionless registry, an open-source DNS resolver anyone can run, and a name that travels with the account rather than living on a single app's servers. The 58-character address is still there; it is just that most of the ecosystem no longer needs to look at it.
Source
- NFDomains
- NFD documentation
- NFD analytics dashboard
- NFDomains Réti validator
- The NFD Protocol | NFD Docs
- Why Own an NFD? | NFD Docs
- Analytics | NFD Docs
- Segments (Subdomains) | NFD Docs
- Expirations | NFD Docs
- Mint | NFD Docs
- Pricing | NFD Docs | NFD Docs
- NFD Registry | NFD Docs
- nfdomains.algo (@nfdomains.algo.xyz) — Bluesky
- https://medium.com/feed/@nfdomains
- Integrations | NFD Docs
- API Changelog | NFD API
Source: https://nf.domains