Bringing More Web3 Domains On-Chain with Automatic Minting

By Michael Williams, Head of Product, Unstoppable Domains

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve Unstoppable’s user experience, security, and transparency, we’re updating the way we mint Web3 domains. 

We designed Unstoppable to be usable for everyone – even people new to Web3 – which is why we allow people to buy a domain without needing a wallet address. This no-wallet approach is vital in providing an on-ramp to Web3, but it also means there are a huge number of domains that have been purchased but not yet minted.

This model was great for users but made Unstoppable's database, not the blockchain, the main source of truth for the registry – limiting improvements that can be made to the registry itself.  

That’s why starting next week, all domains will now be minted at the time of purchase. When you create an Unstoppable account, we'll generate a new wallet address for you, mint all domains directly to this address and let you transfer these out to a personal wallet at any time.

Automatic minting will help us:

1. Move the registry state fully on-chain, enabling us to build new registry features such as direct, on-chain smart contract purchases
2. Reduce the risk of off-chain domain storage
3. Preserve the easy, on-ramp user experience our domain owners have come to love and expect
4. Provide a way for people to eventually use their domains, even if they aren't comfortable with self-custody

This change should be largely invisible to Unstoppable domain owners and their user experience, but since on-chain data is public, we wanted to give you a heads up on what's happening.

What to expect

Over the next few weeks, we'll be generating new addresses for each Unstoppable account. If you have unminted domains in your account, we recommend transferring them to your non-custodial wallet or Unstoppable mobile app as soon as possible so you can take ownership of your digital identity and start using it across Web3. Otherwise, we'll be minting those domains to the new addresses. 

We'll also be updating our website's management section to make it clear which domains are held in Unstoppable’s custody and which are held in private wallets (and strongly encourage you to take custody of them!). If you haven’t yet minted your domain to your wallet and take no action now, you can still transfer your domain to your wallet or Unstoppable mobile app at any time.

Taking ownership of a domain will be almost indistinguishable from our current minting flow. You'll select the domain you want to custody, a wallet you want to store it in, and sign a simple message to confirm the transfer.

This change eliminates the gap between "purchase" and "mint" so that your domains are immediately on-chain and visible through blockchain explorers—regardless of where they’re stored.

What it means for you

Our goal is to make sure you’re getting the most out of your domain—whether it’s sending and receiving crypto or logging into your favorite Web3 apps, games, websites and metaverses.

Moving your domains on-chain is a critical step to provide you with more visibility, security and utility. We want our products to be as transparent as possible, and we will continue to identify and build features that enable even more transparency, trust and ownership of your digital identity.