## SPP3 NameStone Application

---

**Team:** NameStone
**ENS handle:** kp3556.eth, slobo.eth
**Contact:** [e-mail]
**Requested amount:** $225,000
**Category:** ENS Infrastructure

---

## Problem

Companies, developers, and communities often want a way to assign human-readable names to wallets, users, or contracts. ENS provides that capability, but an individual `.eth` registration starts at $5 per year before gas, which makes it expensive to use at scale.

Subnames offer a lower-cost alternative. In practice, a mainnet subname can cost only a few cents in gas, making shared naming systems practical at higher volume.

The official ENS Manager app lets anyone mint such a name, so it may appear that the problem of subnames is solved.

But the gap between a few cents and free is immense. NameStone’s millions of issued subnames prove this.

Occasionally, free is not the only requirement.

A free name, often referred to as a gasless or offchain name, is not always the right solution. Developers want greater control and customization over their subnames while still keeping costs low and infrastructure requirements manageable. Durin.dev serves this use case, and its 300+ deployed registries show the demand.

---

## Approach

Our approach centers on [NameStone](https://namestone.com) as the lowest-friction way for teams to start using ENS subnames.

NameStone has a deliberately narrow product objective: make ENS subname issuance easy to adopt and reliable to operate.

We are not building a full ENS management suite or all-purpose naming platform. NameStone does one thing: enables teams to issue and manage ENS subnames with minimal infrastructure work. *That simplicity is the feature*.

- **[NameStone.com](https://namestone.com/)** provides the managed path: gasless API, admin tooling, Sepolia support, and production infrastructure so teams can test, ship, and operate ENS subname flows without first building custom resolver, gateway, and uptime infrastructure. One neat feature is that developers can generate API keys programmatically, which allowed dynamic.xyz to integrate NameStone into their [flow](https://www.dynamic.xyz/blog/global-identities#strongpowered-by-ens-and-namestonestrong).

- **[Durin.dev](https://durin.dev/)** provides the developer-owned path. For teams that need more control or an L2-based deployment model, Durin provides the gateway infrastructure and standard contract templates needed to issue ENS-compatible subnames with less custom work. It currently supports eight chains and their testnet equivalents, and we add additional networks when developers request them.

Our results and prior work show that this approach works.

---

## Prior Delivery History (C1)

NameStone is the #1 ENS subname issuance platform by total subnames issued, with over **9.6 million** gasless ENS subnames issued across **362** parent-domain onboardings. To our knowledge only one company has issued more subnames and that's Coinbase for cb.id. However we do not believe this is in our competitive set.
* [Durin.dev](https://Durin.dev) is the de facto L2 subname toolkit for ENS hackathon and prototype work. It has supported hundreds of registry deployments and thousands of issued L2 subnames.
* Both Durin and NameStone are listed in the official ENS subnames documentation. Durin is referenced as an opinionated approach for L2 subnames, while NameStone is listed as an API provider for programmatic offchain subname issuance.

This delivery history is independently verifiable through live products, public documentation, deployed infrastructure, and forum reporting.

NameStone also proactively published quarterly progress reports during SPP1, even though quarterly reporting was not required at the time. That reporting created a public record of commitments, shipped work, usage metrics, and changes in scope.

This helped set an accountability norm for other *service providers*. Brantly Millegan, another SPP1/SPP2 recipient, has confirmed that conversations with Slobo about NameStone’s quarterly reporting led him to follow suit with his own SPP reporting.

This matters for C1 because the SPP3 rubric evaluates execution credibility, public evidence, and proactive reporting. NameStone has not only shipped the infrastructure; it has maintained a public record of delivery and helped **raise** the reporting standard for the program.

---

## Adoption and Ecosystem Utility (C4)

NameStone’s core value to ENS is protocol adoption. It turns ENS subnames from something teams can technically do into something they actually **ship** quickly.

That impact is visible in usage:

| Metric | Result |
|---|---:|
| Gasless ENS subnames issued through NameStone | 9,633,364 |
| Parent-domain onboardings through NameStone | 362 |
| Durin-supported L2 and testnet environments | 16 |
| Durin registries created | 355 |
| Durin subnames issued | 4,382 |

NameStone makes ENS practical for teams that want to give users, wallets, contracts, or communities human-readable names without asking every user to register a separate `.eth` name or pay for an onchain transaction.

This shows up in real deployments and user feedback:

### Caldera / .era

> We used NameStone for the launch of .era domains as part of our community activations prior to TGE. It took us about two engineer-days to go from the idea to a working feature on our webapp. NameStone worked perfectly despite much more traffic than anticipated. Without NameStone, there's a good chance we wouldn't have had an ENS domains feature at all — they were extremely helpful in getting ENS adopted more widely.
>
> — Matt Katz, Co-Founder of Caldera

### Burner / brnr.eth

NameStone powers `brnr.eth` subname issuance during Burner setup. Burner owners claim ENS subnames without requiring an onchain registration transaction for each user. To date, **4,240** subnames have been issued under `brnr.eth` through NameStone.

### Columbia Business School

NameStone built ENS onboarding software used in a Columbia Business School MBA course led by Omid Malekan.

> There’s no substitute for hands-on learning. It’s exciting to see students mint and experiment with subdomains onchain, even as far as selling on OpenSea. They aren’t just learning about ENS and web3 — they live it. That’s what makes this experience so powerful.
>
> — Omid Malekan, Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School

### Converse / XMTP

> NameStone made it easy to get started with ENS subnames and helped connect us more deeply to the ENS ecosystem. That visibility and momentum played a meaningful role in our growth, and ultimately in our acquisition by XMTP!
>
> — Pol Maire, Co-Founder of Converse.xyz

### Rebind

> NameStone made it easy to get started, and the team was responsive to our requests. I would definitely recommend it to others looking for ENS subnames.
>
> — David Cingala, Co-Founder of Rebind

### Durin / L2 Subnames

Durin supports L2 subname experimentation across 16 mainnet and testnet environments. It has been used by ETHGlobal hackers, including prize-winning submissions, and has supported 355 registry deployments and 4,382 issued L2 subnames.

This is ecosystem utility even when it does not immediately show up as direct ENS registration revenue. Subnames make ENS visible inside products, communities, courses, and developer workflows. SPP3 keeps that adoption layer online and funds the reliability, onboarding, and maintenance work needed for more teams to build with ENS.

---

## Scope and Success Definition (C2)

SPP3 funding supports a focused infrastructure scope: keeping NameStone reliable, completing the transition to dedicated day-to-day ownership, reducing security and dependency debt, improving developer onboarding, and maintaining Durin as the developer-owned path for L2 subnames.

This is not a broad expansion into a full ENS management suite, a marketing campaign, or bespoke client services.

The goal is simple: keep ENS subname infrastructure reliable and make it easier for developers to adopt it.

By June 2027, success means:

- NameStone maintains at least 99.9% uptime across the SPP3 cycle, monitored publicly at [status.namestone.com](https://status.namestone.com/).
- Both NameStone and Durin become easier to use for AI agents.
- NameStone continues onboarding new parent domains and issuing new subnames, with usage metrics reported quarterly.
- NameStone remains the #1 ENS subname issuance platform by total subnames issued.
- Priority security and dependency issues identified in Q1 are remediated or publicly tracked with rationale.
- Developers have clearer self-serve onboarding through improved API docs, setup guides, and a Postman collection or equivalent testing workspace.
- Teams have clearer guidance on when to use NameStone versus Durin, including the tradeoffs between gasless/offchain and L2-based subname models.
- Durin remains maintained across supported L2 and testnet environments, with updated docs, examples, and implementation guidance.

---
## Milestone Structure (C3)

### Quarterly Roadmap

Each quarter we will post public report to the ENS forum and will include uptime from status.namestone.com, NameStone & Durin usage metrics, completed work, links to shipped artifacts, and next-quarter priorities.

---

### Q1 — Sep 2026
**Focus:** Transition, stabilization, and baseline

**Deliverables**
1. Complete legal transition from Resolver Works LLC to Range 35 LLC.
2. Complete operational handoff: GitHub, database/admin access, hosting, monitoring, domains/DNS, API keys, package registries, billing/vendor accounts, and support channels.
3. Complete operations knowledge transfer: deployments, support, monitoring, backups/recovery, integration context, operational data, and known technical risks.
4. Complete security and dependency audit across NameStone, Durin, and related services.
5. Publish Q1 transition report.

**Verification**
- Legal transition completed
- Operational handoff checklist completed
- Security/dependency audit summary
- Forum report with uptime, usage data, transition status, and Q2 priorities

---

### Q2 — Dec 2026
**Focus:** Security remediation and AI-native tooling

**Deliverables**
1. Remediate priority security and dependency issues from Q1.
2. Ship NameStone MCP server for subname workflows.
3. Ship AI skills/prompts for NameStone workflows.
4. Improve AI-assisted implementation of Durin.
5. Publish Q2 report.

**Verification**
- GitHub PRs for security and dependency updates
- Public repo or package for MCP / AI tooling
- Public AI skills/prompts for NameStone workflows
- Updated Durin docs, examples, and implementation guides
- Forum report with uptime, usage data, completed work, and Q3 priorities

---

### Q3 — Mar 2027
**Focus:** Onboarding overhaul and self-serve adoption

**Deliverables**
1. Publish improved NameStone API onboarding docs.
2. Publish Postman collection or equivalent API testing workspace.
3. Improve setup flow for new parent domains.
4. Improve guidance on NameStone API vs. Durin and offchain/onchain/L2 tradeoffs.
5. Publish Q3 report.

**Verification**
- Public docs URLs
- Public Postman workspace or equivalent
- Updated setup guide for new parent domains
- Updated NameStone API vs. Durin guidance
- Forum report with uptime, usage data, completed work, and Q4 priorities

---

### Q4 — Jun 2027
**Focus:** Reliability, final reporting, and next steps

**Deliverables**
1. Maintain 99.9%+ uptime across the SPP3 cycle.
2. Continue mainnet, Sepolia, and Durin support.
3. Publish final NameStone and Durin usage metrics.
4. Compare completed work against committed milestones.
5. Outline next-phase steps.

**Verification**
- status.namestone.com uptime dashboard
- Final forum report
- Final usage tables
- Links to shipped artifacts, docs, repos, demos, and relevant GitHub PRs
- Summary of completed milestones and next-phase steps

*ENSv2 note: We do not believe our platform will need to change to support ENSv2. However, if that proves to be wrong, we will update our products accordingly.*

---

---

## Budget

| Budget item | Amount | Justification |
|---|---:|---|
| Leadership | $125,000 | Day-to-day ownership, reporting, product direction, developer support, and hands-on implementation. |
| Engineering Services | $53,000 | Additional engineering support for security, AI tooling, Durin, and onboarding work where needed. |
| Transition Services | $20,000 | Transition support, handoff, and knowledge transfer. |
| Infrastructure & IT | $12,000 | Hosting, RPC, AI tools, monitoring, GitHub, communication tools, developer tooling, and production operations. |
| Legal & Accounting Services | $10,000 | Legal and accounting support related to the transition and SPP3 operations. |
| Travel | $5,000 | Limited ecosystem travel. |
| **Total** | **$225,000** | |

---

## Why SPP3

NameStone is the #1 ENS subname issuance platform and a core developer infrastructure for ENS adoption as measured by total subnames issued.

NameStone has not had external funding since SPP1. For the past year, Slobo.eth has continued operating and maintaining NameStone without funding. That is not a durable path for infrastructure used across the ENS ecosystem.

If this SPP3 application is successful, NameStone and its associated assets will transition from Resolver Works LLC to Range 35 LLC, wholly owned by Kirill Polevoy, for $1. This allows the platform to continue under dedicated day-to-day ownership. The transition is documented in a [legal agreement](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mJTeRbzkZ3f00r2LDBGoXFXDNvJXpUPCDEQJFUixJtA/edit?tab=t.0) between the parties.

Under that agreement, Slobo will support the transition for six months. After that period, his formal transition responsibilities will end.

Without SPP3 funding, NameStone does not have a sustainable operating path. The current plan would be to wind down NameStone and related products.

---

### Why Kirill Polevoy

My path into ENS started with NFTY Chat. It was my first angel investment, and it was the first crypto product that made wallet-based identity feel practical to me.

The idea was simple: a wallet could prove what someone held, which communities they belonged to, and what credentials they had without relying on a centralized account system. The data was either there or it wasn’t. If the wallet did not hold an asset, you could not pretend it did.

That got me fired up about identity as one of the most important use cases in crypto. ENS is the clearest expression of that idea because it gives wallet-based identity a human-readable name.

That is why NameStone matters to me. Subnames are one of the most practical ways ENS can reach more people. They let projects give users meaningful names without per-user onchain transaction costs or custom infrastructure.

Why my experience matters:

- First product hire / early product leader at multiple early-stage and growth companies
- Helped rebuild [Beyond Finance](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/beyond-finance) into a market leader ($1B+ valuation) after PE acquisition, including product and operational systems tied directly to revenue, settlement capacity, and customer retention
- Built and led a team of 20+ product managers across multiple product verticals
- Took ownership of an $80M/month billing platform at [Engine](https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/hotel-engine) (Series C $2.1B valuation), ramped up within weeks, evaluated architecture, and shipped a phased redesign plan
- Active in crypto for several years through Farcaster, the Chicago crypto community, and ENS ecosystem work
- Started building with AI full-time, shipping personal and open-source tools, including an ENS delegator app after spotting UX gaps for newcomers participating in ENS governance.
- Proven community builder and part of Anthropic community leadership program
- Co-founded Shiphaus, a 200+ person AI builder community active across 4 chapters
- Onboarded 100+ builders to Claude Cowork and Claude Code
- As part of the Anthropic leadership community I will be in position to advocate for ENS

#### A note from Alex “Slobo” Slobodnik about Kirill:

I have worked with Kirill across several companies and projects. His dedication and product judgment have proven valuable. He's been a paid contributor to NameStone, and his familiarity with the product is why I'm comfortable handing NameStone to him as he will be a good long-term steward.

It is the only way that NameStone can continue to serve the ENS community as I focus on my work for ENS Labs.

---

## Supporting Data

### NameStone usage by year

| Period | New parent domains | New subnames |
|---|---:|---:|
| 2023 | 47 | 6,928 |
| 2024 | 145 | 12,544 |
| 2025 | 130 | 9,611,640 |
| 2026 YTD through May | 40 | 2,252 |
| **Total** | **362** | **9,633,364** |

### Durin usage summary

| Durin metric | Result |
|---|---:|
| Supported L2 and testnet environments | 16 |
| Mainnet L2 registries created | 102 |
| Testnet registries created | 253 |
| Total registries created | 355 |
| Mainnet L2 subnames issued | **3,807** |
| Testnet subnames issued | 575 |
| Total Durin subnames issued | 4,382 |

### Durin usage by network

| Network | Environment | Registries created | Subnames issued |
|---|---|---:|---:|
| Arbitrum | Mainnet | 1 | 1 |
| Arbitrum Sepolia | Testnet | 18 | 83 |
| Base | Mainnet | 67 | **3,680** |
| Base Sepolia | Testnet | 175 | 436 |
| Celo | Mainnet | 5 | 22 |
| Celo Sepolia | Testnet | 14 | 12 |
| Linea | Mainnet | 2 | 9 |
| Linea Sepolia | Testnet | 1 | 2 |
| Optimism | Mainnet | 3 | 0 |
| Optimism Sepolia | Testnet | 1 | 0 |
| Polygon | Mainnet | 3 | 29 |
| Polygon Amoy | Testnet | 9 | 12 |
| Scroll | Mainnet | 0 | 0 |
| Scroll Sepolia | Testnet | 3 | 4 |
| Worldchain | Mainnet | 21 | 66 |
| Worldchain Sepolia | Testnet | 32 | 26 |
| **Total** | | **355** | **4,382** |

## Conflict of Interest

Although Alex “Slobo” Slobodnik will not be an owner of NameStone after the transition, we are disclosing his ongoing ENS-related roles for transparency.

Slobo is currently a part-time consultant for ENS Labs, the primary protocol development organization for ENS. He currently serves as an ENS Ecosystem Working Group steward, though he does not plan to run for another term. He is also a top 10 ENS delegate.

Slobo will also provide transition support to NameStone as disclosed in this application.

Kirill Polevoy has no conflicts of interest.

## Supporting Documents

### Product and infrastructure

- [NameStone](https://namestone.com)
- [NameStone status dashboard](https://status.namestone.com)
- [NameStone GitHub](https://github.com/namestonehq/namestone)
- [Durin GitHub](https://github.com/namestonehq/durin)
- [ENSPro GitHub](https://github.com/namestonehq/enspro)
- [ENS delegator app GitHub](https://github.com/kirillpolevoy/ens-delegation)

### Prior SPP applications and reporting

- [Season 1 application](https://discuss.ens.domains/t/service-provider-stream-nomination-thread/18142/24)
- [SPP2 NameStone application](https://discuss.ens.domains/t/spp2-namestone-application/20462)
- [Resolver Works Q1 2024](https://discuss.ens.domains/t/resolver-works-q1-2024/19062)
- [Resolver Works Q2 2024](https://discuss.ens.domains/t/resolver-works-q2-2024/19359)
- [Resolver Works Q3 2024](https://discuss.ens.domains/t/resolver-works-q3-2024/19701)
- [NameStone Q4 2024 — Formerly Known As Resolver Works](https://discuss.ens.domains/t/namestone-q4-2024-formerly-known-as-resolver-works/20093)

### Adoption and ecosystem references

- [NameStone-powered Columbia Business School ENS onboarding site](https://www.cu-cypherpunk.com/)
- [ENS DAO Newsletter #65 — 07/16/24](https://discuss.ens.domains/t/ens-dao-newsletter-65-07-16-24/19398)
- [ENS Ecosystem weekly meeting note](https://discuss.ens.domains/t/ens-ecosystem-weekly-meeting-12pm-et-thursday-term-5/18533/59)
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