We’re thrilled to announce the upcoming rollout of NFD V3! The changes in V3 help the NFD protocol become more decentralized, sustainable, and interoperable. Our mission remains the same: to build the most robust and reliable naming service on any chain.
Key Changes in V3
- Yearly Renewals
- Direct and Permissionless Minting
- Flexible Royalties on Secondary Sales
- Max Registration Time
- Segment Fees (Subdomains)
- Inflation Schedule
Renewal Model
The most significant change for users is the shift from one-time purchases to a renewal model:
- All existing NFDs (V1 or V2) are grandfathered into lifetime ownership
- V3 NFDs will have fixed yearly pricing — see table below
- Once the protocol switches to V3, all newly minted NFDs, including segments, will be V3
- V2 NFDs can be upgraded to V3 NFDs, but this will never be required
- V2 NFDs will retain all of their current features, but any new features will require an upgrade to V3
- Curated and Premium tier pricing goes away
These changes ensure NFDomains can operate as a self-sustaining protocol indefinitely, independent of alternative revenue sources, while maintaining a high level of user experience. It also addresses name squatting in a credibly neutral way, preventing the namespace from being overrun with speculatively registered NFDs.
Permissionless Minting
When NFDomains launched over two years ago, AVM constraints required us to sign certain transactions in the minting process. NFD V3 removes this limitation, allowing direct, permissionless minting from the registry contract.
Royalties
We’ve decided not to enforce royalties in the contracts, making NFDs more neutral and interoperable. This allows marketplaces to set their own fees for secondary trading. NFDomains will continue to enforce a 5% commission on app.nf.domains, but only through the front-end.
Max Registration Time
For the time being there will be a max registration of 20 years. It’s important to us that we provide the services offered to users for the entire time they have paid for. We never want to discontinue a feature because it costs too much, but we’re cognizant that things can change over a 10–20 year timeframe. This is a parameter that could theoretically be adjusted by a DAO in the future, if costs became more predictable.
Segment Fees
We have removed the greater of $4 or 25% price model as it was overly confusing, and is no longer needed with a renewal model. Instead, segments will have a simple $5 platform fee + a root owner fee.
Inflation Parameter
Over the past 10 years the average inflation rate was 2.6%. To ensure all of the costs associated with NFDs are covered indefinitely we’re adding an inflation parameter of 2% per year. This parameter allows a possible future DAO to respond to dramatic changes in inflation or deflation (if that were to ever occur) without needing to adjust the base price.
Final Thoughts
We are expecting to release NFD V3 in the next few weeks — prior to the Coinbase Quest starting. If you would like to help us test, please go to the TestNet channel in our Discord.
We recognize that these changes may not be universally popular, but they are essential for building a sustainable protocol. After announcing our initial plans in January, we carefully considered all feedback and adjusted our approach, ensuring existing users didn’t need to do anything to maintain their lifetime status. We genuinely appreciate every comment — whether supportive or critical — and believe our final direction has been significantly improved as a result of this community input. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all who contributed their thoughts.
We will have more information coming on V3 in the next few weeks. If you have any questions please go to our Discord to receive the fastest response.
