Owning Your URL Onchain with 3DNS
When you look at the history of NFTs, 2020-2023 was the digital collectibles craze. Yet in the wake of this period, we've increasingly seen NFTs used as infra.
In other words, infra NFTs primarily provide a utility of some sort rather than being traded as onchain Veblen goods.
Big up-and-coming examples here include Polymarket's Conditional Token ERC-1155s, Virtuals Protocol's Immutable Contribution Vault NFTs, and Flaunch's Memestream revenue NFTs.
But another project that's making interesting inroads here and that I've been meaning to cover for awhile is 3DNS.
Why 3DNS matters
3DNS is a tokenized domain registrar built on Optimism. Instead of parking your .com with GoDaddy or etc. and trusting these companies' support desks, 3DNS mints the domain as an ERC‑721 in your wallet.
As such, these NFTs serve as onchain ownership records; updates, transfers, and renewals all run through signatures you control.
And because 3DNS still coordinates with an ICANN‑accredited registrar, these names resolve in every normal browser, integrate with Gmail or Shopify, and simultaneously act as ENS‑compatible decentralized IDs.
That mash‑up of Web2 reach plus onchain self‑custody unlocks a few notable advantages:
- Security — No customer‑service hack can reroute your DNS if the thief doesn’t have your private key.
- Liquidity — Want to flip a domain? List the NFT on any Optimism-friendly marketplace, e.g. OpenSea, and the transfer clears in seconds.
- Composability — Use the domain as collateral, issue subdomains as separate NFTs, or tie it to other onchain identity systems.
The main hurdle of using 3DNS is minor: the platform charges an extra $6 per year above normal registration costs and you pay transactions on OP Mainnet (i.e. pennies) for each admin tweak.
How to try
Building a new project or speculating on domains and want to tap into the power of tokenized domains? You're in luck, as 3DNS is straightforward to get started with. You'd just follow these steps to dive in:
- Fund Optimism – Add ETH / USDC to your wallet on OP Mainnet for buys and transaction fees.
- Visit
app.3dns.box– Connect your wallet on the website, sign the login message, and switch to Optimism when prompted. - Search and Buy – Filter for your preferred TLD (.com, .xyz, .io, etc.), add to cart, and pay with crypto or credit card (card purchases have a 30‑day transfer lock).
- Import Existing Domains – In the Transfers tab, paste the auth code from GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc. to port an old name onchain.
- Manage Records – Use the "Web" tab to add A, CNAME, or MX records, with each save managed through a cheap OP transaction.
- List or Leverage – Because your domain is already an NFT, you can immediately list it on OpenSea or drop it into any DeFi protocol that accepts 3DNS assets.
The big picture
3DNS hints at a broader NFT trend. In other words, ownership primitives are migrating from walled‑garden dashboards to openly programmable tokens.
Once a domain sits in a wallet alongside stablecoins and other tokens, it becomes subject to the same composability flywheels. It's one smart contract interaction away from collateralizing a TLD, renting subdomains, or bundling a site + brand into a single transferable asset.
That's powerful! And to boot, tokenized DNS domains flips the security model from centralized trust to cryptographic proof. That may sound abstract, but it's not, as DNS hijacks aren't uncommon in crypto.
Of course, treating domains as liquid NFTs also unlocks real price discovery for an asset class that’s spent decades in opaque escrows. Keep 3DNS on your radar accordingly!