ANS Token
How the ANS token works and why it self-balances.
The ANS token has an initial supply of zero. New supply is only ever minted by registering or renewing long names, and short names are paid for by spending it — creating a self‑balancing economy with no central issuer.
Minting and cost by length
- Creating or renewing a name longer than 8 characters mints 1 ANS.
- Creating or renewing a name of 8 characters or fewer costs ANS, and the shorter the name, the more it costs:
| Name length | Cost |
|---|---|
| 1 | 800 ANS |
| 2 | 700 ANS |
| 3 | 600 ANS |
| 4 | 500 ANS |
| 5 | 400 ANS |
| 6 | 300 ANS |
| 7 | 200 ANS |
| 8 | 100 ANS |
| 9+ | mints 1 ANS |
Because short names cost ANS that only exists once many long names have been minted, the ecosystem self‑balances: a short, desirable name effectively requires a healthy population of longer names to support it. Anyone wanting a short name who hasn't farmed enough ANS must buy it on the open market, giving the token value.
The base value floor
Minting a name NFT requires a 0.2 $ALPH deposit, and names cannot be burned until they expire. That deposit is on‑chain storage cost and is returned when the name expires, which gives ANS a base value of 0.2 ALPH — so, for example, an 8‑character name (100 ANS) costs on the order of 20 ALPH initially.
There is no central team earning money from any of this.