“What is this {name}.mirror.xyz, and why is all of crypto-Twitter using it?”
Alright, so I’ll be the first to admit, this isn’t the first time I’ve played inside web3; however, this is the first time I actually used the mainnet. If you’re curious, the mainnet is where blockchains actually run. A testnet allows developers to test their code before actually launching it.
The first thing I bought was a Ledger Hardware Wallet which allowed my funds to be safe while giving me the courage to start investing in the new internet!
While I picked Ledger, both Ledger and Trezor are reputable companies that my communities rely on. -Affiliate Content
When I signed up for Mirror, one of the first options I got was to add an ENS domain. But let’s step back, what is ENS?
ENS stands for the Ethereum Name Service and acts like a phone number for your wallet address. Let’s say your crypto wallet’s address is 0x76…58rRd, ENS could make it so {your name}.eth links to that address, so if someone wants to pay you with crypto, they can type {your name}.eth instead of ‘0x76…58rRd’. I'm all about unified branding, so let’s do it!
Now that we have some funds, let’s head over to app.ens.domains to buy our brand name. I picked nikhildesigns.eth, which, luckily, was available meaning it would cost 5$ per year, as well as transaction costs, known colloquially as gas.
Once the transaction completes, which is in two parts (explained on the ENS site); congratulations, you own an ENS domain name! Now we need to set up the reverse register, which allows web3 apps to use your ENS instead of your wallet address. This is found right at the top of the ENS portal, inside your domain, seen below.
When picking a reverse register, remember only one ENS can be attached to your wallet address.
Gas is probably the biggest downside of using ethereum to interact with web3. While the Ethereum Group is working to alleviate this burden with PoS (proof of stake), this isn’t really in the scope of the article. (I’ll write on this later!)
Now that the heavy lifting is done, let’s head to a web3 app, like UniSwap to see if it worked.
As of right now, you have a complete, working ENS that can serve your brand, but we can do better, can’t we?
The ENS service also has a set of Text Records, which allow you to attach relevant brand info to the domain. This includes items like twitter and discord handles, as well as a mysterious section called Content.
This is where we can link a decentralized website, so when users go to {your name}.eth.link, they’ll see that site.
I made a simple static site and launched it on the IPFS using a command line tool, ipfs-deploy.
The following list is what you can currently put in the ENS text record:
- ETH (Ethereum) Address
- BTC (Bitcoin) Address
- LTC (Litecoin) Address
- DOGE (Dogecoin) Address
- Content - A Place to put the IPFS Website Address
- Email Address
- Website Address
- Avatar - You can Display a Profile Pic in Web3 Apps(more on this below)
- Description - What’s the Purpose of Your Brand/Domain?
- Notice - Status of the Domain, ex. ‘Not for Sale.’, ‘Sold at OpenSea.io’
- Keywords - Kinda like SEO
- com.discord - Discord Username
- com.github - Github Username
- com.reddit - Reddit Username
- com.twitter - Twitter Username
- org.telegram - Telegram Username
- eth.ens.delegate - A Proxy to Another ENS Address
Note: All of the information you provide to this form will be public to everyone (on the ethereum blockchain)
The next thing I decided to find was the Avatar, since I had all of the other info locked down. The ENS Documentation states that “Clients MUST support at least https and ipfs URIs for resolving the metadata URI” meaning we can use either NFTs or URLs for our Avatar Images.
After some preliminary research, I went with the Polygon chain because gas fees are ridiculous right now. I did some research to find a profile picture NFT, which is usually attached to a community. The SunCity Club fits all my requirements as well as being a supportive community! I’ll be writing more about how I researched my NFT using Twitter in my next article.
I couldn’t connect my NFT directly to the Text Record, so the alternative was using an IPFS link
Since I didn’t have enough gas to change my text record, I set up my IPFS site to web3.nikhildesigns.com. Please let me know if you’d like me to write a tutorial on how to set all this up and follow me on twitter @nikhildesigns_