One Week In: Inside the Tech Behind NicNames × D3 and the Future of Tokenized Domains

Guestblog by Andriy Khvetkevych, CEO & Co-Founder NicNames and Serg Pokrovskyy, CTO, NicNames

A week ago, on September 22, 2025, NicNames.com and D3 announced a partnership to tokenize traditional internet domains on Doma Protocol’s testnet. With the dedicated .tokenized.name zone live for free experimentation, this post goes deep on how the integration works under the hood and what’s coming next.

"Our goal isn’t to ‘bolt Web3 onto Web2.’ Our goal is to give users true
cryptographic control over their Web2 domains. Even if someone logs in the traditional way, high-level actions still require a wallet signature. That way, the user’s intent is clear and verifiable.”
- Andriy Khvetkevych, CEO, NicNames

What Tokenization Changes (and What It Doesn’t)

Tokenization adds a Web3 control layer to a regular DNS domain. The domain still resolves through Web2 infrastructure. What changes is the authorization path for sensitive actions (transfer, high-risk updates). In hybrid sessions (a Web2 account linked to a wallet), we use a single, consistent signature flow, even though the domain itself stays in the user’s Web2 account.

A tokenized Web2 domain is still a Web2 asset in practice. Tokenization mainly upgrades the control plane and auditability, not the core DNS system.

“In Web2 registries, the DNS layer doesn’t magically move onchain. What we’ve done with Doma is shift authorization and intent onchain, then enforce those checks in our backend so critical operations require the owner’s signature.”
- Serg Pokrovskyy, CTO, NicNames

Claims and Transfers: User-Initiated, Protocol-Mediated

When a wallet holds a tokenizable domain, the owner can broadcast a claim onchain. Doma detects this and alerts our backend. We then match the claim to a verified contact handle stored offchain (so no personal data is put on-chain) and complete the transfer. This keeps the ICANN-required email check for ownership changes while keeping the onchain message lightweight.

“We designed the claim to be user-initiated by default. The onchain message carries just a handle ID. Our system maps that to verified contact data and only then advances the flow. It’s native to Web3 yet compliant with registrar rules.”
- Serg Pokrovskyy, CTO, NicNames

Looking forward, standardized claim/transfer semantics across registrars matter more than any particular chain. If multiple registrars adopt the same protocol, cross-registrar movement of tokenized domains becomes operationally feasible. The hard parts are coordination and rules, not the chain itself.

“Doma focuses on protocol-level standards for registrars, creating shared rules for claim, custody and transfer. The network itself is flexible. The real value is a single, reliable source of truth that any registrar can depend on.
- Anand Vora, VP BizDev & Partner Ops, D3

Security Roadmap: From Signatures to Tamper-Evidence

Today, tokenization lets us use wallet signatures to approve high-level actions. Next, we’re working toward wallet-signed DNS and contact updates. Before the registrar publishes a change, the user will sign a digest such as a zone-file hash or contact snapshot. The backend verifies the signature and only then publishes. This makes tampering detectable even if a Web2 session is compromised.

“We’re pushing for a state where ‘no signature = no publish.’ This turns a Web2 domain into a Web2 domain with Web3-grade tamper evidence, complementing DNSSEC rather than replacing it.”
- Andriy Khvetkevych, CEO, NicNames

 “Think of it like a user-signed ‘zone hash.’ If the hash or signature doesn’t match, we halt the change. It’s a practical way to bring cryptographic guarantees to everyday DNS operations.”
- Serg Pokrovskyy, CTO, NicNames

Why NicNames Partnered with D3 Instead of Building Everything Themselves

The company initially scoped issuing ERC-721 domain NFTs themselves on a single primary chain. D3’s Doma Protocol matched NicNames' architecture and offloaded NFT issuance and multi-network plumbing, so NicNames could ship faster and focus on UX, compliance, and security controls.

 “Doma took on the heavy lifting around issuance and registrar-oriented interfaces. The result is basically what we planned, just delivered sooner, and designed for multiple registrars from day one for a bigger market.”
- Serg Pokrovskyy, CTO, NicNames

What’s Live Today and What’s Next

Live now (testnet)

• .tokenized.name: Free registrations for immediate tokenization and end-to-end testing.
• Hybrid management: Web2 login remains, with wallet signatures used to authorize sensitive actions for a consistent experience. 

Coming next

• Claim UI in NicNames: Detects claimable domains for connected wallets and guides the onchain step.
• Wallet-signed DNS/contact integrity: Verifies user signatures before publishing to make tampering detectable.
• Governance primitives: Multi-sig, fractionalization, and tokenholder voting (DAO-style) for shared ownership and operations.
• Registrar interoperability: Shared Doma semantics allow cross-registrar movement as more registrars integrate.
  

“As Doma mainnet expands, we expect to see not only wallet-to-wallet, but registrar-to-registrar portability standardized at the protocol level. That’s when DomainFi crosses from experiments into everyday infrastructure.”
- Anand Vora, VP BizDev & Partner Ops, D3

Join Us for a Deeper Dive

We’ll cover the architecture, our security roadmap, and early results in a
live X Space & Discord AMA on October 1, 2025 with Andriy and Serg, hosted by D3.

Context:

• NicNames became the first registrar to tokenize traditional internet domains on Doma Protocol’s testnet, with an exclusive .tokenized.name zone for free experimentation.
• Early testing includes tokenization paths for well-known TLDs (e.g., .com, .ai, .xyz) while preserving full DNS utility.
• The partnership sets a reference model for bridging large Web2 portfolios into Web3 as RWAs with DNS compliance intact.
  

Useful Links

Doma Protocol: start.doma.xyz 
NicNames.com: get.tokenized.name 
How to Register and Tokenize your tokenized.name Domain for Free [testnet]
Step-By-Step Industry-First TestNet Domain You Can Tokenize
For more information, visit doma.xyz.