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Limits and Fees

The protocol has some limits for security purposes and also a requirement for collateral when registering a domain.

Domain and registration limits​

When registering a new domain you need to keep in mind there are some restrictions (both for security reasons and protocol limitations), these limits are:

  • Domains can't be longer than 15 digits
  • Domains can not include uppercase letters, numbers, spaces, special characters, or symbols.
  • The domain TLD needs to be allowed by the protocol, currently the only allowed TLD is .xlm

Most of the limits regarding the domain are done with the idea of protecting users, we have seen cases with current web2 usernames/domains where someone owns "stellar.org" and another person registers "steIIar.org" (steIIar.org) which depending on the site/app displaying the letters, it can trick someone.

Protocol fees​

At this moment there isn't any fee for registering or burning a domain, but there is a collateral requirement when registering a domain. This is calculated based on the amount of seconds, the size of the domain, and the "node rate", here are the details:

The node rate:​

The node rate is the price of each unit of collateral required per second of registration.

Unit of collateral​

Each unit of collateral is the minimum amount the collateral asset can be. For example, currently, the accepted collateral is XLM, and this asset can be divided by 10^7 so each unit will be 0.0000001 XLM.

Multiplier​

Based on the size of the domain, there is a multiplier that will make the collateral higher. At this moment, this multiplier starts when the domain is lower than 5 digits and it's calculated with the formula (5 - Domain length) * 3

For example, the domain one.xlm will have a multiplier of (5 - 3) * 3 = 6

Why having a collateral?​

Because there isn't any fee for registering a domain, the protocol requires collateral so there is something that prevents bad actors from mass registering domains. The collateral also serves as a reward for those who liquidate bad actors, for example, if someone registers the domain sdf.xlm and is not the real owner, others can raise a flag and liquidate it so they earn the reward.

To unlock the collateral, domain owners can burn the domain and claim back their collateral.