An authority designed to be optional.
A ledger without agreed reading rules is only data. ODNCA exists to publish those rules for on-chain naming — so that any two parties reading the same chain arrive at the same names, the same owners, and the same answers.
What kind of authority this is
ODNCA has no power over the chain, claims none, and is designed so that its own existence is optional. Names cannot be seized, rules cannot be changed silently, and every answer any ODNCA service gives can be recomputed by anyone from public data.
The authority’s product is not control; it is agreement — published, versioned, signed, and anchored on the chain it describes. Recognition, not permission, is the instrument: nobody needs ODNCA to claim, transfer, or build, and everybody benefits when the coordinated ecosystem reads the chain the same way.
Five principles run through every standard: the chain is the root · central follows decentral · trust is optional at every level · honesty over convenience · permissionless base, recognition on top.
And one line summarises the architecture: don’t trust us — recompute us. If ODNCA itself disappeared tomorrow, the rules, vectors, and commit history remain published and anchored — anyone recomputes and continues. What would be lost is a coordinator, not a registry.
Governance in one view
The full charter is ODNCA-GOV-001; these are its load-bearing walls.
Founding seat + standing invitations
ORDnet holds the founding seat. Seats stand reserved for ecosystem stewards — first among them the parties for whom TLDs are withheld or retired: the steward of the 1Sat Ordinals ecosystem and the BSV Association.
Published, reviewed, anchored
Standards changes get a 14-day public review. TLD requests get rights screening, direct consultation of affected parties, and a decision within 30 days. Every decision is published with reasons.
What nobody may decide
No power over chain facts. No expropriation. No changing frozen math. No secret measures. These bind every phase and every majority — including the founding steward.
Contact & participation
Wallets and applications: start at the developer page. Prospective registrars and resolver operators: the operator page and ODNCA-POL-002. TLD requests and rights holders: the procedure in ODNCA-GOV-001 §6 — screening is a rights-and-fairness test, never an auction.
For everything else, including Board matters: info@odnca.org
The official five-page summary of everything ODNCA is and stewards — written for partners, operators, registrars, and rights holders.
Download the PDF →