Get paid to @name with Blocknet ID

With a Blocknet ID shortname, people can pay you at @yourname, you can share a payment link that fits in a chat message, and you can mine on bntpool.com to the same name. This guide covers how names work, how to claim one at blocknet.id, and how to use it in the wallet and in seine.

What is a Blocknet ID shortname?

The rules are the same everywhere a name is accepted:

• Two prefixes. @name and $name are the same name. Use whichever you prefer.
• Case-insensitive. @Alice and @alice resolve to the same address.
• Simple characters. Letters a to z, digits 0 to 9, underscore, hyphen and dot.
• Up to 64 characters.

Every record at blocknet.id is signed. When the wallet resolves a name, it fetches the record, then checks its Ed25519 signature against the signing key that blocknet.id publishes at https://blocknet.id/.well-known/blocknet-id.json. The signed payload contains the name, the address and the time it was last updated, and the wallet confirms all three match before it uses the address. Each name also has a public page at blocknet.id that shows its address, the signed payload and the signature, so anyone can check a record themselves.

Why pay a name instead of an address?

A Blocknet address is the base58 encoding of your public spend key, your public view key and a checksum, which comes to 92 or 93 characters. That is a lot to copy between apps, read aloud or fit into a profile. A shortname is something you can say in a sentence, print on a sticker or put in a bio.

You also get a clear confirmation step. When you send to a name, the wallet prints the address it resolved to and marks it as verified before you approve the payment. The name only replaces the address you would have shared anyway. On chain, the payment is a normal Blocknet transaction to a one-time stealth address, so it stays as private as any other payment.

How do you get a Blocknet ID?

1. Copy your address. In the command-line wallet, the address command prints it, followed by the line “Get a short name like @name or $name at https://blocknet.id”. Get the wallet from the command-line releases or the desktop releases.
2. Search for a name. Go to blocknet.id, type a name into the “find a name” box and press Search. As you type, the page tells you if a character isn’t allowed or the name is too long.
3. Check the result. An available name shows its price. A name that is already registered shows its address, when it was last updated, and a link to its public page.
4. Register it. Paste your wallet address and press “Claim free” (or “Register” for a priced name).

Pricing is a one-time charge by name length. At the time of writing (October 2026), every name of nine characters or more is free under a promotion, “no invoice, no payment” in the site’s words. Names of eight characters cost 100 BNT, and shorter names cost more, up to 6,000 BNT for a single character. The pricing page lists every length.

To manage your names later, use “sign in” at blocknet.id with your Blocknet address. The management page is where you point a name at a different address.

How do you send BNT to a name?

In the command-line wallet, put the name where the address would go:

send @rock 100 "hello"

The wallet resolves @rock, prints Resolved @rock -> <address> with a verified mark, and then asks you to confirm. The confirmation shows the name, the full address, the fee and your memo. The $rock form works the same way, and send takes whole or fractional amounts.

The wallet’s API resolves names in the same way for every recipient of a send request, so tools built on the wallet get name payments without extra work.

How do payment links work with a name?

A payment link carries the recipient, the amount and an optional memo. Blocknet supports two forms:

blocknet://<address>?amount=25&memo=invoice-42
https://bntpay.com/$yourname?amount=25&memo=invoice-42

The bntpay.com link works with a name in place of an address, so it stays short. Opening it shows a page with “Pay $yourname”, the amount and the memo, plus an “Open in Wallet” button that opens the payment as a blocknet:// link. If you paste either form into the command-line wallet, it fills in a send for you to confirm. Include the amount field; the memo is optional and holds up to 124 bytes of text.

This makes it easy to post one link for tips or to send an invoice in a single message.

How do you mine to your @name?

Seine and bntpool.com both accept a shortname as your payout address. When you start seine for the first time, enter @yourname at the address prompt and accept the default pool. To pass it on the command line, quote it:

./seine --address '@yourname'

Here is what happens next:

• Seine resolves the name when it starts. It verifies the signed record from blocknet.id, checks the address, logs the full address it resolved to, and keeps that address for the whole run, including pool reconnects.
• The pool accepts names at login too. bntpool.com verifies the signed mapping when a miner connects with a name, and uses the resolved full address for jobs, shares, balances and payouts.
• You can look yourself up by name. The stats page on bntpool.com accepts @name and $name, so you can follow your hashrate and balance without pasting the address.
• A saved name resolves again on the next run. Seine stores the name in its config, so each new start picks up the address your name points to at that moment.

Because balances belong to the full address, a later name change never redirects an existing balance. Anything you have already earned stays with the address that earned it and is paid there, while new mining goes to the new address. The same name also works in solo mode against your own node.

New to mining? The guide to mining Blocknet walks through downloading seine, hardware and payouts on bntpool.com.