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LAMINA1 Hub Usernames

In the Lamina1 ecosystem, usernames signify the unique named address of your LAMINA1 Hub account. They can be used to personalize your profile in place of the alphanumeric ‘hash’ (e.g. traditional Web3 wallet style address) currently linked to your Hub account.

You can also use usernames to easily Send/Receive L1 and identify co-creators in the Creator Studio without having to copy and paste in their full Lamina1 Hub address. Soon, you’ll be able to use them to send items and messages, identify yourself in upcoming Spaces and experiences, block or whitelist users, and more as the Lamina1 Hub expands.

Types of Usernames​

Right now, here are two types of usernames you can register on the LAMINA1 Hub using the L1 Identity Service:

Standard Usernames​

  • Free for everyone with a LAMINA1 Hub account
  • Each has a randomized 4-number ID or ‘hash’ attached to the end of it
  • Can be between 1-59 characters
  • Not totally unique (except for 4-number ID)
  • No renewal required

On the LAMINA1 Hub, Standard Usernames always consist of a user chosen string of text to which a randomly generated 4-digit code is appended (Discord like), for example: “neal1992”.

Since any user can claim a username of this kind for free (except for gas fees), it’s important to deter both spam and front-running. This is achieved simultaneously by requiring a small proof of work (PoW) when reserving the Standard Username. A nonce must be mined and provided when registering a Standard Username, so that Hash(address, username, nonce) = 0x0000…, where the number of leading zeros is defined as the PoW Difficulty.

The higher the number of required zeros, the longer it takes to mine the nonce, which reduces spamming. Furthermore, by having the sender address included in the Hash, it deters front running, since the entity attempting to front run needs to mine a new nonce, instead of using the one provided by the user.

Premium Usernames​

  • Cost 1 L1 per Premium Username
  • Totally unique, have no 4-number ID or ‘hash’
  • Can be between 1-63 characters
  • Must be renewed annually (free; w/ 90-day grace period)

On the LAMINA1 Hub, Premium Usernames allow users to get a more desirable username, for example: “neal”, by paying a small fee of 1 L1 per username purchased. This fee is designed to be sufficiently large to discourage spamming by non-L1 Beta testers, but small enough such that having a Premium username is achievable for nearly all L1 community members who participate in Quests or on our Discord.

From a user perspective, Premium Usernames are more aesthetic and more original – great for brands, creators, and companies, and developers who want to plant a flag for their identity early in the open metaverse and/or protect against competition or impersonation.

Front running is harder to deter in this case, since an entity can observe a user trying to pay for a username and pay for it instead, effectively “stealing” that username from the user. However, the payment is done on the C-Chain, but the ID Bot is the only one that can reserve Premium Usernames on the Controller contract on the L1 Identity Subnet.

This way, in order to prevent front running, users will contact the ID Bot in advance of making the payment, so that the Bot knows which address is supposed to get which username. The Bot holds a reservation mapping that username to the provided address for a small period of time (10 minutes). Once the payment is done to the PaymentCollector on the C-Chain by the user, the Bot proceeds with the registration of that username on the L1ISv1 service. If the payment is not submitted in time, the reservation expires, and the user needs to get a new reservation from the Bot.

Additional Information​

Right now, every time you change your username on the Lamina1 Hub, you are registering a new username and connecting it to the back-end of your account. Future development will allow users to renounce previous usernames they no longer want associated with their Lamina1 Hub account. However, this feature is not available directly via the Lamina1 Hub at this time.

The Lamina1 Hub will only showcase the most recent username you have reserved for your account — e.g. your ‘active’ username — on the Lamina1 Hub. Additionally, once you reserve a Premium Username, this will become your active username by default on all Lamina1 Hub transactions.

If you revoke or fail to renew your Premium Username after one year, your Hub account will prompt you to set a new one or revert back to the original alphanumeric address associated with your account. If a Premium Username expires, it will become available for purchase again to all users of the Lamina1 Hub after a 90-day grace period.