What is a .kred domain?

The short version

.kred is a generic top-level domain, the same kind of thing as .com or .shop. ICANN, which coordinates the internet's naming system, signed the registry agreement for it with KredTLD Pty Ltd of Sydney on 19 December 2013 (ICANN), and IANA's root-zone record lists it as delegated since 27 February 2014 (IANA). The registry describes KredTLD as a subsidiary of PeopleBrowsr, and IANA lists CentralNic as its technical operator.

What makes it unusual is that the registry says every .kred name is two addresses at once: an ordinary web address in the Domain Name System, and an address in the Ethereum Name Service, recorded as a token (nic.kred).

1. An ordinary web address

As a DNS name, a .kred domain behaves like any other. The registry lists the usual records (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT), DNSSEC and certificates: you can point it at a website, set up email or add subdomains. This site uses its .kred name in exactly that way, and nothing else.

2. A name for a wallet

The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) maps short, readable names to the long hexadecimal addresses of Ethereum accounts, much as DNS maps names to server addresses. According to the registry, every .kred name is "ENS-compatible": its holder can point it at a wallet address so that people can send to name.kred instead of a 42-character string. The registry also says each name is minted as an ERC-721 "Kred Domain Token". ERC-721 is the Ethereum standard for non-fungible tokens, meaning tokens that are each unique rather than interchangeable.

Who it is aimed at

The registry pitches .kred at online identity: personal and creator sites, brands and businesses, and people who want one name for both their website and their wallet. Its FAQ talks about gathering your social feeds and content in one place under your own name. The name comes from Kred, the company's earlier social-reputation brand; the registry dates its "+Kred" recognition feature to 2011.

The registry describes the namespace as open: anyone can register, there are no eligibility rules, and names of any length are available, with shorter names priced higher. It says it follows ICANN's dispute policies (UDRP and URS) for trademark complaints.

Why a hoard site on .kred?

Partly because the name was available, and partly because of the subject. Hacksilver is about a world where money had to be verified rather than trusted: silver weighed on folding balances, nicked with a knife to check it was not plated, and buried in hoards that work, for archaeologists, rather like a ledger. Our Money you could weigh section follows that story, with the modern parallels clearly marked as analogies.

What this site does not do

Hacksilver does not use the wallet side of its domain. There is no wallet connection, no token, nothing on-chain, and nothing here is financial or investment advice. If that ever changes, the privacy page will say so before it happens.