ONUS Name Service Research Hub | ONS information, history and analysis

ONUS Name Service (ONS) is the first distributed, open, and extendable naming system on the ONUS Chain, providing decentralized digital identity and ownership to domain holders.

The function of ONS is to convert names that can be read by humans, such as “team.onus,” into names that can be read by computers, including EVM-compatible addresses, addresses for other cryptocurrencies, content hashes, and metadata. With the use of ONS’s “reverse resolution” feature, it is also feasible to link ONUS Chain addresses to metadata like canonical names or interface descriptions.

However, because of the possibilities offered by the ONUS Chain, ONS has a fundamentally different design from DNS, the Internet’s Domain Name System. Similar to DNS, ONS uses a system of domains – dot-separated hierarchical names – in which the domain’s owner has complete control over its subdomains.

Top-level domains, such as “.onus,” are controlled by smart contracts known as registrars, which also define the policies dictating how their subdomains are distributed. Anyone can get domain ownership for their own use if they abide by the restrictions imposed by these registrar contracts. Additionally, ONS allows users to import their existing DNS names for use with ONS. Because ONS is hierarchical, anyone who controls a domain at any level may set subdomains as desired, either for themselves or for others.

ONS is the native token of the ONUS Name Service platform that empowers its holders with the following utilities:

• Used to register and extend the domain registration period.
• Used to join auctions by placing bids.
• Used as the reward for the referral program.
• Used as the staking reward.
• Used in ONS DAO Voting.