Stewardship, not gatekeeping.
On the chain, claiming a name — even inventing a TLD — is permissionless, and ODNCA does not pretend otherwise. Policy here governs what the coordinated ecosystem recognises and serves: which TLDs are offered, what a recognised registrar commits to, and how abuse is handled without ever touching the fact layer.
ODNCA-POL-001 · TLD Fair-Use
Every TLD is in exactly one category. Fair use honours registered rights — and moral claims.
Two absolutes bind every future decision: retirement never removes resolution of existing names, and a withheld TLD activates only by, or with the consent of, the party for whom it is held. New TLDs follow the request procedure in ODNCA-GOV-001 §6: rights screening, direct consultation of affected parties, a public window, a decision within 30 days. Read POL-001 →
ODNCA-POL-002 · Registrar Requirements
The base is permissionless; recognition is the standard of conduct on top.
Nobody needs ODNCA’s permission to register names. The minimum viable registrar is a static page producing conformant inscriptions. What POL-002 defines is the recognised registrar: vector-conformant tooling, Active TLDs only, honest propagation disclosure, fallback and lookalike display rules, and no false claims of exclusivity.
A registrar may restrict its own offering however it wishes — presented as its own policy, never as chain validity. The founding registrar currently offers letters-and-digits names only: stricter than the standard requires, claiming no privileges under it. Losing recognition is the only sanction; chain access is untouchable. Read POL-002 →
ODNCA-POL-003 · Dispute & Abuse
A name cannot be seized. Enforcement is refusal of service, never removal of property — and the indexer indexes everything, always.
Anyone may report a name by signing a flag transaction — complaints cost a signature and leave a paper trail. The central rule, adopted deliberately: the crowd can warn, only review can block.
Everything reparable gets a cure period (default 7 days) before escalation. Bought flags cannot take anyone offline — at most they buy the target an expedited inspection, and clean content turns the attack into a public clearance. Every measure lands on a versioned, dated, signed public blocklist: blocking in secret is censorship; blocking in public is moderation anyone can recompute. Measures are per-operator, under each operator’s own law. Read POL-003 →
ODNCA-GOV-001 · Governance
Deliberately small: the chain settles ownership, the vectors settle conformance — governance covers the human residue.
The Board. ORDnet holds the founding seat. Seats stand reserved for ecosystem stewards — in the first place the parties for whom TLDs are withheld or retired: the steward of the 1Sat Ordinals ecosystem and the BSV Association. An invitation stands until accepted or declined; declining costs nothing and closes no doors.
Decisions. Every decision is published with reasons and, where it changes recognised state, anchored on-chain. A decision that is not published is not a decision. Standards changes get a 14-day public review.
What no majority may decide: no power over chain facts, no expropriation, no changing frozen math, no secret measures. These limits bind every phase and every majority — including the founding steward.