Simple, Predictable Pricing
TNS uses ICANN-inspired pricing—drawing from the model that governs .com registrations. Rules encoded in the smart contract, designed to become fully immutable once upgrade authority is revoked.
7% Annual Increase
Inspired by ICANN standards, prices increase 7% annually from genesis. This is encoded in the current smart contract. Unlike ICANN, which can renegotiate rates, TNS pricing is designed to become immutable once upgrade authority is revoked.
10-Year Maximum
Inspired by ICANN standards, registrations cannot exceed 10 years. You can renew at any time to extend, but cannot register more than 10 years into the future.
90-Day Grace Period
After expiration, you have 90 days to renew before the symbol becomes available for registration by others. During grace period, the symbol remains reserved but marked as expired.
Permissionless Expiration
Anyone can call the crank to expire symbols past their grace period. This is fully decentralized - no admin action required. Account rent is returned to the original owner.
Pricing FAQ
Why pay to register? Tokens work fine without it.
Legitimate projects want unique symbols just as they want unique brand names, domain names, and stock tickers. The internet wouldn't work if you could accidentally purchase from the wrong Amazon.com. Anyone can launch a memecoin without registration. Utility tokens and serious projects need verified uniqueness.
Why can the mint address be updated?
The same reason domains change hands. Pan Am, Enron, Lehman Brothers—even giants fail. Looking 100 years out, Solana needs a mechanism for symbols to become available again when their owners cease to exist. In the micro, ownership is stable. In the macro, stagnant projects turn over. Anyone can pay the modest renewal fee, making it nearly impossible for a legitimate project with active supporters to lose its symbol accidentally.
Why ICANN-inspired pricing?
ICANN has spent decades refining domain pricing. The ~$10/year for .com registrations has proven to be the sweet spot - affordable enough for adoption, expensive enough to prevent spam. We apply the same logic to token symbols.
Can anyone renew my symbol?
Yes! Like ENS, anyone can pay to renew any symbol. This enables gifting renewals and prevents accidental expiration. The symbol always stays owned by the original registrant—only the expiration date changes.
What happens to expired symbols?
After the 90-day grace period, anyone can call the crank instruction to release the symbol. The account rent is returned to the original owner. The symbol then becomes available for new registration.
Where do the fees go?
100% of registration and renewal fees go to the TNS treasury for protocol development and ecosystem grants. A small fixed keeper reward (0.01 SOL) is added to each registration and paid to whoever processes the expiration crank. See the token page for full fee breakdown by payment method.
What about all of the existing tokens?
We understand this, which is why existing token holders can register their symbols for free during the genesis phase. As all assets move on-chain, a decentralized source of truth becomes inevitable—relying on third parties to verify which tokens are "real" is not sustainable for blockchain's decentralized future, nor does it meet the needs of major financial institutions entering the space. See our whitepaper for more information on the genesis phase and timeline.