Keyboard shortcuts

Press ← or → to navigate between chapters

Press S or / to search in the book

Press ? to show this help

Press Esc to hide this help

Paid names via GoblinPay

Summary. An operator can charge GRIN for names (or for write access). The price is a config value, payments are handled by a GoblinPay server the operator runs, and the relay’s public metadata stays payment-free throughout.

The model

GoblinPay is the Grin payment backend. The name authority (or the write-policy plugin, for paid writes) talks to it over REST:

  1. A user asks to register alice.
  2. With FLOONET_PAY_MODE=name, the authority quotes FLOONET_NAME_PRICE_GRIN and creates a GoblinPay invoice.
  3. The user pays in GRIN: from Goblin Wallet over Nostr on the pay page, or, if the operator enabled GoblinPay’s optional grin1 rail (off by default), from any Grin wallet over Tor. A wallet that cannot deliver its slatepack automatically can paste it back into the pay page instead.
  4. GoblinPay confirms the payment on chain (payment proof included). “Confirmed” is GoblinPay’s house standard of GP_CONFIRMATIONS on-chain confirmations, default 10.
  5. The authority sees the confirmed payment and completes the registration. Results are cached with a TTL, so checks are cheap.

Until step 5, registration is refused. Change the price in config and the quote changes; no code involved.

Modes

FLOONET_PAY_MODEBehavior
offEverything free (default)
nameClaiming a name requires a confirmed payment of FLOONET_NAME_PRICE_GRIN
writeWriting events requires a confirmed payment (the plugin enforces it per authed pubkey)

What the client sees

The name-authority response for an unpaid registration carries enough information for a wallet to generate the payment page automatically: the future wallet claim flow is “type a name server and a name, press claim, get sent to a pay page”. The server side supports that flow today.

The neutrality rule still applies

Charging for names changes nothing about the relay’s public face: NIP-11 metadata stays neutral. Payments are a matter between the operator’s authority and the user’s wallet; the relay itself neither sees nor mentions them.

Beyond names

The paid gate is one mechanism applied to many resources. Names are the first; media storage is the documented second. See Media for GRIN.