The other day, in the course of looking at Arbitrum (and other L2 solutions), I stumbled across Wandomains, which works on Wanchain. Interested in potentially having my own Web3 domain name, I went to have a look at what it's all about.
What is Wanchain?
Wanchain is both a Layer 1 PoS blockchain and a technology for creating decentralised and non-custodial secure and permission-less layer 2 bridges between existing blockchains (such as the Ethereum mainnet, Arbitrum and Polygon), both EVM-based and otherwise. The aim of Wanchain is to establish unified connections and allow digital assets to move across different chains, instead of leaving blockchains (or groups thereof) in silos.
The Website reports connections to the following blockchains/networks, among others:
- Arbitrum (ARB)
- Avalanche (AVX)
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Binance Smart Chain (BSC)
- Dogecoin (DOGE)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Moonbeam (MOON) and Moonriver (GLMR)
- Optimism (OP)
- Polkadot (DOT)
- Polygon (MATIC)
There are also multiple connected assets, including Chainlink (LINK), Dogecoin (DOGE), Maker (MKR), USD Coin (USDC), SushiSwap (SUSHI), WanSwap (WASP) and many more.
According to the Website, anyone can deploy a Wanchain node.
Developer documents and a whitepaper document (PDF) is available from the main Wanchain Website. The Wanchain API (iWan) can be used from both Java and JavaScript. Wanchain has its own NFT marketplace, called OpenZoo and a DEX called WanSwap (with a WanSwap reward token). It also has a yield aggregator called Autofarm. There is even a Wan Faucet bot for Telgram and a dedicated Wan wallet (although you can use MetaMask).
At the time of writing, 1 WAN = $0.212 USD.
What is a blockchain/Web3 domain?
A blockchain/Web3 domain is a human-readable domain that maps a human-readable domain name to a crypto wallet address. It is provided by one of various service providers, like eth.link, that use blockchain technology to map your wallet address to a human-recognisable/readable domain name, ending in something like .eth in the case of eth.link. (You might have seen an example of this on Twitter.) Some of these services require ongoing/recurring payments to maintain the mapping/link, while others are once-off.
A blockchain/Web3 domain is not like a traditional IANA/ICANN domain on which you can host a Website. The top-level domain (TLD) names for these services (such as .eth and .wallet) are not maintained/registered by ICANN members.
This differs from the .crypto TLD registered by Unstoppable Domains (and possibly others by that company/organisation).
What is Wan Domains?
Wan Domains is a service, like eth.link, that maps your wallet address to a human-recognisable/readable domain name, ending in .wan. Unlike eth.link, you are not required to renew the domain registration and pay an additional amount once you have initially registered it.
Here are some of the features of Wan domains, according to the site:
- Use your own picture/NFT as your avatar
- Set up a profile page with information about you, including links to your social media accounts, and (possibly) your Website
- Create unlimited subdomains for members of your company/organisation, off your main
.wanaddress/doain - Use the SDK to integrate with wallets, DApps and DeFi platforms/Websites
- Store domains for BTC, ETH or SOL wallet addresses
- Link to/display your NFT gallery
Alternatives to Wan Domains
An alternative to Wan Domains is Moons Identity, available from moons.money. It offers many of the same features and works with both Moonbeam and Moonriver. The difference is that it provides .moon, and .glmr domains. Yet another alternative is Fusion domains, which offers domain names ending in .fsn.
Adding Wanchain to MetaMask
To add Wanchain to Metamask requires adding a custom token, by contract address. To do so:
- Sign in to MetaMask
- Make sure that the network selected is "Ethereum mainnet". If not, swap to it.
- Go to your account and click "Add Token" and click on "Custom Token".
- Supply the following contract address:
0x135b810e48e4307ab2a59ea294a6f1724781bd3c - Make sure that the symbol shown is "WAN" and the token decimals are 18.
Next, you're going to want to add the Wanchain network to MetaMask, as follows:
- Sign in to MetaMask if it has signed you out.
- From the network selection drop-down, click "Add Network".
- Fill in the details as follows:
- The RPC address for Wanchain is https://gwan-ssl.wandevs.org:56891/
- The Chain ID is 888
- The currency symbol is WAN
- The explorer Website address (optional) is https://www.wanscan.org/
To move WAN from the Ethereum mainnet to the Wanchain network (assuming you have purchased some or swapped some ETH/ERC-20), you'll want to use WanBridge:
- Visit bridge.wanchain.org/
- Open MetaMask and make sure that the Wanchain network is selected.
- Connect MetaMask to Wanbridge using the "Connect Wallet" button.
- Select the asset you want to move (WAN).
- Select the chain/network from which you wish to move (ETH) and to which you want to move (Wanchain).
- Fill in the "From" address, "To" address and "Amount" values.
- Click on "Next" to perform the move.
- Follow any additional instructions.
Keep in mind that bridging is experimental/dangerous and you can potentially lose your crypto.
How to purchase a Wan Domain
Assuming that you have followed the steps above to add Wanchain to MetaMask, go ahead and exchange some of your ETH or ERC20s for WAN. (You'll need at least 40 WAN for a five-letter or more domain, up to 8000 WAN if you want fewer letters.)
- Log into MetaMask and make sure that the selected network is set to "Wanchain". (You might need to bridge your WAN to it from the Ethereum mainnet, as detailed previously.)
- Visit wandomains.xyz/app and connect your wallet.
- Search for the domain name you wish to purchase, from the main search bar. (I recommend typing at least five letters, although it had no issue when I provided over twenty.)
- Once you are happy that the domain name you want is correctly spelled and available, mint it using the "Mint Now" button.
- Follow any further instructions provided by the site.
Congratulations, you now have your own permanent Web3 domain, linked/mapped to the account in your MetaMask wallet! You can now use your blockchain/Web3 domain name in place of your wallet address.
Please remember that your wallet domain does not give you a property on which to host your Website (although you can link your Website to it in some cases). For that, you will need to purchase a .crypto domain from Unstoppable Domains (and likely some storage space from a hosting provider, whom can create a DNS record to link it to your domain).
Thumbnail image: Wanchain logo, from Coincentral
Update, as of 2023/06/03:
Due to the popularity of this post, it is now available on Medium (despite my objections/reservations) and Mirror. Please see the "resources" section for links. Thank you.
