AIP-391: ApeDomain - the omni-chain name service for ApeCoin

[Ervin]

PROPOSAL NAME:

ApeDomain - the omni-chain name service for ApeCoin

PROPOSAL CATEGORY:

Brand Decision

TEAM DESCRIPTION:

Ervin Zhuang, Co-founder, Star Protocol
Alex Sly, Strategy and marketing lead, Star Protocol

Star Protocol (star.co ) offers a universal omni-chain name service, leveraging cross-chain messaging protocols like LayerZero. With extensive experience and trust within the community from deploying 11 successful omnichain domain name services across 29 networks. Servicing over 370,000 unique wallet holders, with 500,000+ registrations. Our cross-chain name service is live on over 29 networks with successful launch of 11 TLDs including .op, .zk, .base, .linea, .kroma, .scroll, .zkapp, .mnt, and .iloveyou.

ABSTRACT:

With ongoing Apechain development discussions, we are proposing the creation of an omni-chain name service ‘.ape’. Enabling necessary infrastructure for ApeCoin-driven identity solutions, where the introduction of .ape enhances community visibility and strengthens existing Ape branding exposure.

MOTIVATION:

We realized from the rejected AIP-224 proposal that an approach focused on providing .ape domains with greater distribution channels integrated with utility of $APE are required.

The ultimate goal of this proposal is to promote widespread acceptance of .ape extensions as recognized and trusted names within the Ape community and greater ecosystem. The .ape domain has tremendous potential to become a mainstream domain service.

There are three key problems we are looking to solve that the author of AIP-224 could not solve;

1. The interoperability of DID. Recent proliferation of blockchain name services have resulted in fragmented systems across Layer 1 (L1) and Layer 2 (L2) networks, lacking interoperability and omni-chain compatibility. At present, many of these name service providers offer only single-chain domains, resulting in commoditized products. An omni-chain name service interoperable with other networks deployed on both EVM and non-evm compatible networks will be necessary for future proofing a long term DID system.
2. Reliability of development and operation. Many teams proposed building .ape domains from scratch, lacking any operational or development experience. Star’s track record alleviates these concerns to deploy a DID project with dedicated customer service capabilities to support the vast Ape community.
3. Revenue Sharing with DAO. Integrating DID services increases the potential for long term DAO revenues, especially as the number of $APE holders increases. In this proposal we clearly outline the revenue sharing structure between the ApeCoin DAO, achieved through either donations or a revenue sharing model. While also incorporating $APE as a method of payment for registrations to further embed these DID services within the APE ecosystem.

We believe the Star team is perfectly positioned to support the ApeCoin DAO in providing a name service that overcomes existing issues associated with Web3 domains, surpassing them to provide a superior identity solution.

RATIONALE

Star Protocol wants to empower a universal identity layer for Web3, facilitating identity solutions for the “open metaverse” and beyond. Providing the community with more ways to express their inner Ape!

Through our own experience, we found the current landscape of Web3 DNS offers low utility; What appears to be a straightforward copy of Web2 domains can be months or years before real on-chain utility offers more than the equivalent off-chain utility offered by web2 domains.

Given these issues, our teams extensive blockchain development knowledge combined with our experience in deploying successful omnichain domains name systems, we believe make us an ideal team for this undertaking.

BENEFIT TO APECOIN ECOSYSTEM:

With the blockchain Identity management market expected to increase from $1.3B in 2023 to $35.1B in 2028 at a rate of ~92% growth annually. A forward-thinking approach to DID utility will be required for maximizing value capture back to the Ape community.

.ape name service enriches community members’ on-chain experience by offering;

1. Human-readable addresses
2. Decentralized website hosting
3. Personalized email addresses
4. Seamless social media forwarding
5. Alleviating link shortages.

All the while holding intrinsic value that contributes to the preservation & increase of the ApeCoin ecosystem.

Key benefits added below;

1. Revenue Sharing: The fee of registration and renewal fee is shared by Star Protocol (60%) and ApeCoin DAO (40%). The DAO would be entitled to 40% of every dollar earned when total revenue exceeds $200,000 USD.
2. Advanced omni-chain interoperability: Employs an interconnected DNS to facilitate a streamlined user experience across Web3.
3. Omni-chain resolution API: Streamlining DNS integration into Ape dApps for omni-chain resolution to build out the fully interoperable ApeCoin identity infrastructure.
4. End-to-end TLD registration, management, UI & UX design: A dedicated website for the .ape domains will be created. The Star team will establish a unique X/Twitter Channel, a Discord space, and customized roles for .ape holders. This setup will coordinate campaigns with various APE ecosystem projects.
5. Dedicated network of partners As a Consensys’ Scale partner, we leverage their technical capabilities to constantly improve our service. Combining them with the distribution of our existing 282 L1 & L2 partners, will enable us to boost .ape exposure and utility on dApps like Dmail.

• Leveraging our ongoing partnership with Consensys as 1 of 10 projects selected to join their Scale program in 2023 Q4, provides significant technical resources to leverage when developing the .ape domain name system.
• Our exclusive name service collaboration with Wemade’s (Largest gaming company in Korea 160M Users) subsidiary LIghtscale, as the official name service for their Layer 2 network Kroma, provides strong a network partner.

6. Technical Innovation and security - Over 370K users have registered 500K omnichain domains on Star Protocol in 2023. Our commitment to technical excellence ensures that ApeCoin DAO benefits from the latest advancements in blockchain technology, emphasizing security, efficiency, and scalability.
7. Media network – Discord membership of ~165K, Twitter followers 274K, Guild.xyz members 149K

KEY TERMS:

• DNS – Domain Name System – The phonebook of the internet. People access online information through domain names. Web browsers interact through the internet protocol (IP) addresses. DNS translates domain names into IP addresses so browsers can load internet resources.
• Blockchain name service - translates complex blockchain addresses into human-friendly names, enhancing user experience and facilitating easier transactions within a decentralized and secure framework, akin to the internet’s DNS but for blockchain wallets and resources.
• DID - Decentralized Identity - Integrates blockchain technologies to remove reliance on centralized third parties for identity information storage, enabling users to own and control their digital identities securely and privately, without central authority oversight.
• TLD - Top Level Domain - At the end of domain names and are important for classifying domain names as well as essential for DNS lookups.
• Omni-chain - facilitates interoperability between disparate blockchain networks, enabling seamless asset transfer and communication, thereby creating an integrated, multi-chain ecosystem.

EXAMPLE USE CASES

1. Advanced omni-chain interoperability: Employs an interoperable DNS to facilitate community recognition and branding for .ape domains across Web3 by implementing a superior DID system.

2. Improving the utility and versatility of $APE: Payment options in $APE or $ETH for registrations and renewals for .ape domains are built in.

PLATFORMS & TECHNOLOGIES:

Core Components: The service includes a web application and offers omni-chain non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which could serve as unique, blockchain-based domain names. It also features a price oracle for accurate registration fee, a multi-top-level domain (TLD) registrar controller for domain management, a multi-chain node controller, and on-chain web hosting capabilities.

Cross-chain Infrastructure: The platform utilizes cross-chain messaging protocols like LayerZero and Wormhole, and also includes support for Axellar, which is tailored for Cosmos. Currently, only LayerZero (https://layerzero.network/ ) is integrated with Star Protocol.

Supporting Blockchain: .ape will be deployed on Ethereum. It is compatible with a diverse set of Layer1 and Layer2 including Ethereum, and others represented by their symbols, indicating a wide reach and the ability to interact with multiple blockchain ecosystems. Bitcoin is not supported yet while the team is exploring the possibility of DID in bitcoin netowrk.

Our auditing partners at secure3.io is providing security auditing, please find the latest audit report of Star Protocol here > https://secure3.io/audit/StarEvm

Pricing of Domains Registration of .ape:
The domain name should be renewed annually. A life-time holding option is not suggested here.
3-character domain – US$ 400
4-character domain – US$ 100
5 and 5+ character domain – US$ 5

STEPS TO IMPLEMENT & TIMELINE:

1.) Proposal Passes and Grant Agreement Signed
Upon community approval, Star Protocol will enter into a grant agreement with the Ape Foundation.
Estimated timeline; 1 week.

2.) Product Development
Smart contract development
UI & UX designed with community suggestions.
Testing by Ape community. We aim to utilize the resources of the ApeCoin DAO’s community-driven Beta tester program.
Estimated timeline; 3 weeks.

3.) Layer Zero Support for omni-chain interoperability
Cross-chain Testing by Ape community.
Estimated timeline; 2 weeks.

4.) Integrate .ape domain url inside the ApeCoin official website and other Dapps by Ape marketing (2 weeks)
Estimated timeline; 2 weeks.

5.) Pre-registration
Pre-registration (48 hours): a whitelist minting will be done according to the one-time off snapshot results.
The maximum minting domains for each wallet is to be decided and announced 7 days before the product launch.
Estimated timeline; 2 days.

6.) Open minting to public
Minting of .ape domains will be open to the public.

OVERALL COST:

0 ApeCoin.

The Foundation would be expected to integrate a .ape domain url inside the ApeCoin official website; the Ape Foundation will place an individual link on the landing page as follows:

After users click this Ape Domain, it takes the users to an individual page to purchase the domains. We will secure an individual domain for the service and would love to ask ApeCoin Foundation to set up a subdomain such as “did.apecoin[dot]com" or “ans.apecoin[dot]com” to bind with our server. We will pre-mint “apecoin.ape” for the official of apecoin.com.

Although development and maintenance require costs, which we estimate to be $120,000, all the cost will be covered by Star Protocol. This part will be deducted from the first part of the revenue sharing until the sharing exceeds $80,000 (updated from a previous figure of $120,000). After that, we will begin to make payments to ApeCoin DAO at a rate of 40% (that is, the DAO would be entitled to 40% of every dollar earned when total revenue exceeds $200,000 USD).

Cost breakdown and allocation are only an estimation and subject to change.

Cash flow-out - Expenses % $USD
Product Development Work 37% 44,000 (the Ape Foundation assists in ensuring that the UI & UX align with the branding rules of the ApeCoin Foundation, providing feedback to adjust as needed)
Quality Assurance & Launch 5% 6,000
Server Cost (3 years) 30% 36,000
Operation (3 years) 15% 18,000
Marketing 8% 10,000
Legal 5% 6,000
Total 100% 120,000

Team Resources

• 1 Tech Lead
• 2 Smart Contract Developers
• 1 Front end developers
• 1 Backend Developer
• 1 UX/UI designer
• 1 Business/marketing lead
• 1 Community events

Links to all Star Protocol Resources;

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[NatalieZ]

I think this is a very interesting idea. I would have taken that name for myself without hesitation.

[Ervin]

Really appreciate your support. We’ll set up a pre-registration period for $APE holder!!

[Chris.Admin]

Hi @Ervin,

The community feedback period for your proposal would be ending in less than 24 hours.

• If you’re content with the feedback received, your next steps are to finalize your proposal using the AIP Draft Template.

• A moderator will reach out to the author to finalize the AIP Draft. Upon receipt of the final Draft, we will review and provide instructions on the next steps.

• Are you ready to proceed to the next phase or do you wish to extend community discussion for another 7 days?

We look forward to hearing from you.

-@Facilitators

[Ervin]

Hey @Chris.Admin , we will finalize the proposal using the AIP Draft Template and waive the cost that we list here to change the proposal’s category.

[Ervin]

Before we finalize the proposal, we’d love to say thanks to all the family in ApeCoin Dao first.
Our team made a very important decision this weekend.

Although development and maintenance require costs, which we estimate to be $120,000, we will not seek any Ecosystem Fund from ApeCoin DAO for this. This part will be deducted from the first part of the profit sharing until the sharing exceeds $120,000. After that, we will begin to make payments to ApeCoin DAO at a rate of 40%.

Hope all of you love our products.

[Chris.Admin]

Hi @Ervin,

Thank you for your ideas [and the ApeCoin DAO community for the insightful discussions].

A moderator will reach out to the author to finalize the AIP Draft using the appropriate template.

• Once the AIP Draft is confirmed by the author and meets all DAO-approved guidelines, it will receive an AIP ID number and move forward for Draft Analysis Review.
• @Ervin please see your messages for the next steps.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments. In accordance with DAO-approved guidelines, if the author does not respond within 30 days, the proposal will be automatically transferred to the Withdrawn category, and the author can re-submit the idea.

-@Facilitators

[Chris.Admin]

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

@Ervin has completed editing their AIP Idea to be their AIP Draft.

This proposal has been assigned the AIP ID Number 391.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

[Chris.Admin]

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

Edits have been made to this Topic, by the author or by the author’s request.

You can click the Pencil icon at the top of the post to see these edits.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

[Chris.Admin]

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

Our team has reviewed and discussed @Ervin 's AIP Draft and have sent a list of initial questions. We await answers.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

[Chris.Admin]

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

@Ervin has responded to our questions and they are in our review once again.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

[Chris.Admin]

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

@Ervin has responded to our questions and has provided consent to share them in this forum for the community.

1. Is the Ape Foundation expected to engage in any of the steps of the AIP implementation? If so, please specify the steps and elaborate on how it is expected to work.

Ape Foundation is expected to engage in the following steps of the AIP implementation.

-Product Development, the Ape Foundation assists in ensuring that the UI & UX align with the branding rules of the ApeCoin Foundation, providing feedback to adjust as needed.

-Integrate .ape domain url inside the ApeCoin official website, the Ape Foundation will place an individual link on the landing page as follows:

2. You’ve stated that “[$120,000] will be deducted from the first part of the profit sharing until the sharing exceeds $120,000. After that, we will begin to make payments to ApeCoin DAO at a rate of 40%.” You also noted in the Benefit section: “Revenue Sharing: The fee of registration and renewal fee is shared by Star Protocol (60%) and ApeCoin DAO (40%).

a. Please clarify that it is in fact revenue (income generated from sales) that will be shared with the ApeCoin DAO, as opposed to profits (revenue minus expenses).

The revenue is the income generated from sales that will be shared with the ApeCoin DAO. It isn’t profit sharing(revenue minus expenses).

b. Is this revenue-sharing agreement to exist in perpetuity?

Yes. This revenue-sharing agreement exists in perpetuity. Star will sign an agreement with Ape Foundation for the revenue-sharing scheme.

c. Is there an expected schedule for the distribution of revenue back to the DAO treasury?

The revenue will be shared monthly. Star will withdraw the accrued revenue from the contract and distribute 40% of the total monthly registration fees to a wallet address belonging to the Ape Foundation’s treasury. The calculation of the monthly registration fees will start at 00:00 GMT+8 on the first day of the calendar month and end at 24:00 GMT+8 on the last day of the same calendar month. Star will pay the total amount to the Ape Foundation within 20 working days after the end of each month.

After checking the number of $Ape holders, it was found to be 144,502 by the end of January 2024. We expect that 60,000 .ape domains will be registered in the first 12 months at an average domain price of 5 USD. The revenue forecast for the first 12 months is $300,000 USD.

Only when total revenue exceeds $300,000 USD will the revenue sharing scheme begin. When the revenue sharing amount exceeds $120,000 USD for Ape Foundation. We expect this to occur within the first 12 months, given our forecast.

To commit earlier to the Ape Foundation Treasury, we are willing to lower the starting point for revenue sharing from $120,000 USD to $80,000 USD. Star will assume a greater share of the initial costs in the early stages. So now when total revenue exceeds $200,000 USD the revenue sharing scheme will begin. We expect within 9 months, given our forecast.

d. Please provide your plans for sharing revenue reporting with the DAO.

We will provide a dashboard for the Ape Foundation. Currently, we have equipped our partner, Kroma, with the dashboard for checking the domain registration and revenue on its own network, Kroma. All monthly reports can be downloaded in PDF format. Please refer to the following:

3. Your Steps to Implement contains the following: “4.) Integrate .ape domain URL inside the ApeCoin official website and other Dapps by Ape marketing (1 weeks) Estimated timeline; 2 weeks.”

a. Is this to be a link embedded on the ApeCoin website, or a URL forwarding address?

This is to be a link embedded on the ApeCoin landing page. Please kindly check the following image.

b. Please clarify who is being referred to by “Ape marketing.”

Regarding Ape Marketing, we anticipate support from the Ape Foundation in the following ways:

- Introduction of Ape Domain by the official Twitter account of ApeCoin (https://twitter.com/apecoin).
- Co-hosting a Twitter Space when the product launches.

c. Please clarify whether “1 week” or “2 weeks” is the intended timeline for this step.

This should be 2 weeks.

4. Your proposal states “The maximum minting domains for each wallet is 3 (wait to be decided).” When is this to be decided?

The amount of maximum minting domains in the whitelist period, to be decided and announced 7 days before the product launch.

5. Do you have any plan for ensuring that this is incorporated by popular dApps (e.g. Metamask)?

Star has established partnerships with over 280 projects to integrate its omnichain name service. Notably, Star Protocol is a participant in the ConsenSys Scale Program and works directly with the MetaMask team. Star is now developing a MetaMask Snap which enables the resolution of the name service built on the Star Protocol within MetaMask.

6. Several of your Steps to Implement involve “testing by the Ape community.” Where would the communication to the community for test participation take place, and who would be responsible for coordinating that outreach? For context, the ApeCoin DAO has a community-driven Beta Tester program available as a potential resource.

Communication will occur through the Star Protocol Discord Channel. We aim to utilize the resources of the ApeCoin DAO’s community-driven Beta tester program. Our team has designated two members for contact on Discord: the usernames are ervin.zk and cleone.zk. Additionally, the ApeCoin DAO’s community can reach us via our official email, team@star.co.

7. As per the ApeCoin General Guidelines, “proposals will not be put up for vote if they involve illegal activity, hate speech, pornographic material, or are at odds with the mission or values of the APE Foundation.” Can you ensure that the domains will be in keeping with these guidelines?

Adhering to ApeCoin’s General Guidelines is a fundamental obligation for each proposal that will be put up for vote. The registration of blockchain domains is entirely controlled by blockchain contracts. Once the contract is deployed, it becomes challenging for us to manually control the names of registered domains. This difficulty is present both in ICANN and ENS, where controlling the names of domains that users wish to possess is hard. However, if a user uses this domain to link to IPFS or any URL that violates the ApeCoin General Guidelines, we can set up a reporting section for .ape domains to collect these domains and indicate on ApeDomain that these domains are used in violation of the rules. This will inform users not to purchase or trade these names on the platform of Ape Domain, even if these names expire and can be re-registered in the future.We will ensure this reporting process is as open and transparent as possible.

8. Do you provide consent to apply updates to the relevant areas of your proposal based on your responses to the questions above?

Yes.

9. Do you provide consent to share these questions and answers with the community in this forum?

Yes.

Edits have been made to this Topic, by the author or by the author’s request.

You can click the Pencil icon at the top of the post to see these edits.

A DAR package is being worked on and upon completion this AIP will move into Administrative Review. Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

[Chris.Admin]

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

We have sent a list of follow-up questions to the author.

@Ervin has responded to our follow-up questions and has provided consent to share them in this forum for the community.

1. In Question 2c from the prior round, you respond: “To commit earlier to the Ape Foundation Treasury, we are willing to lower the starting point for revenue sharing from $120,000 USD to $80,000 USD. Star will assume a greater share of the initial costs in the early stages. So now when total revenue exceeds $200,000 USD the revenue sharing scheme will begin.” To be clear, does this mean that upon earning revenues of $200,000 the DAO would be granted its first revenue sharing disbursement of $80,000 (40% of $200k)? Or is it that the DAO would be entitled to 40% of every dollar earned after this $200k revenue figure?

Thank you for the question. To clarify, the DAO would be entitled to 40% of every dollar earned when total revenue exceeds $200,000 USD. The 40% allocation ($80,000 USD) of this total revenue sum will be put towards development costs burdened by the Star teams.

2. Where would the proposed “Ape Domain” tab that would be implemented on the ApeCoin landing page lead to?

After users click this Ape Domain, it takes the users to an individual page to purchase the domains. We will secure an individual domain for the service and would love to ask ApeCoin Foundation to set up a subdomain such as “did.apecoin.com or “ans.apecoin.com” to bind with our server.

3. Would URLs typed in as “apecoin.ape” redirect or point to “ApeCoin

Yes. We will pre-mint “apecoin.ape” for the official of apecoin.com.

4. Do you provide consent to apply updates to the relevant areas of your proposal based on your responses to the questions above?

Yes.

5. Do you provide consent to share these questions and answers with the community in this forum?

Yes.

Edits have been made to this Topic, by the author or by the author’s request. You can click the Pencil icon at the top of the post to see these edits.

A DAR package is being worked on and upon completion this AIP will move into Administrative Review. Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

[Chris.Admin]

Hi ApeCoin DAO Community,

We have no further questions for @Ervin. This AIP is now under Administrative Review.

Follow this Topic as further updates will be posted here in the comments.

Kind Regards,

-@Facilitators

[Onnuel]

Would love to have my own ape identity

[Chuks238]

I think this is a very interesting idea. I would love to have my own unique apedomain name

[Pope]

Creating your own ape domain sounds like a fun and unique idea! What inspired you to come up with that concept?

[Ervin]

for all ape lovers, for all $ape holders