About
Sats Names is a standard for writing names to Bitcoin using ordinals. The goal is to build a name ecosystem for Bitcoin, that is built by Bitcoiners, and developed entirely on Bitcoin. We’re just starting the process of building our indexer for this project but we can share our syntax so builders can begin tinkering. First let's establish our guiding principles:
All namestate lives on Bitcoin
Bitcoin transactions, and only Bitcoin transactions, are all that is needed to register and update names. A Bitcoin node contains all information needed to materialize all namestate. No other database or trusted services are required. Any client can independently compute the true state of all names.
The protocol will remain credibly neutral
No gatekeepers: Nobody can turn off the protocol or block anyone else from registering names. There is no smart contract or front end with privileged access. No tokenomics. No premine. No gas token. No governance. No perverse incentives.
The first write of a name on Bitcoin owns the name
For example, the first user to register an ordinal containing "satoshi.sats" owns that name and the rights to update that name. With ordinals anyone can write any data they wish, including duplicate names. This will lead to collisions and competing tribes of name standards. Bickering over various standards is a waste of our community’s energy. There is only one neutral, objective pattern for settling collisions; First is first.
A namesystem completely contained on Bitcoin has many advantages and adds value many existing products and ecosystems. For example:
- Use your .sats name in Nostr
- Use your .sats name as your Lightning address
- Use your .sats name as your public Bitcoin address
- Use your .sats name to login to apps
- View .sats names in Bitcoin explorers
Last modified 23d ago