TON Domain Auctions: How .ton Bidding Works

Right now there are hundreds of live .ton domain auctions running on the TON network — far more than usual. Short, memorable names that cost hundreds of dollars a couple of years ago are opening at a fraction of that price. This guide explains how TON domain auctions work, what a name costs, and how to bid on one with Namespace.

What is a .ton domain?

A .ton domain is a human-readable name on TON DNS, the naming system of the TON network. Instead of sharing a long wallet address, you share a name like alice.ton. Each domain is an NFT that lives in your wallet, and its smart contract stores records: the wallet address the name points to, a TON Site, a TON Storage bag, a subdomain resolver and free-text records such as a bio, avatar and social links.

Because the domain is an NFT, nobody can take it away from you, freeze it or change its records without your wallet signing the transaction.

How TON domain auctions work

Every new .ton name is sold through an open, on-chain auction run by the TON DNS smart contract. There is no registrar and no first-come-first-served checkout — whoever bids the most when the auction closes wins.

1. Someone starts the auction by placing the first bid on a free name. The bid must be at least the minimum price for that name length (see the table below).
2. The auction runs for about one week. Anyone can outbid the current leader during that time.
3. Each new bid must be at least 5% higher than the previous one. When you are outbid, your gram is returned to your wallet automatically by the contract.
4. Late bids extend the auction. A bid placed in the final hour pushes the end time back, so nobody can snipe a name in the last second.
5. The winner receives the domain as an NFT and can set its records immediately.

How much does a .ton domain cost?

The opening price of a TON domain auction is fixed in gram and depends only on the length of the name. Shorter names are scarcer, so they start higher:

Name length	Minimum opening bid	At ~$1.38 per gram
4 characters	100 gram	~$138
5 characters	50 gram	~$69
6 characters	40 gram	~$55
7 characters	30 gram	~$41
8 characters	20 gram	~$28
9 characters	10 gram	~$14
10 characters	5 gram	~$7
11+ characters	1 gram	~$1.38

Popular names usually sell above the minimum once other bidders join, but the opening price sets the floor for every auction.

Why so many auctions are open right now

Because opening prices are fixed in gram rather than in dollars, the real cost of a .ton domain moves with the gram price. Two years ago, with gram trading around $7.50, a four-character name opened at roughly $750. Today, with gram near $1.38, the same 100-gram opening bid is about $138 — more than 80% cheaper in dollar terms.

That price gap has pulled a wave of collectors and builders back into the market: short words, brand names, numbers and names in non-Latin scripts are all being auctioned. You can see every open auction, its current price, the number of bids and the end date on the Namespace auctions page.

Numeric names are especially popular. All 10,000 four-digit names from 0000.ton to 9999.ton form the TON 10K Club, which Namespace tracks as a live heatmap — read the TON 10K Club collector's guide for the details.

No annual fee: .ton vs .eth

The biggest difference between TON domains and ENS (.eth) domains is what happens after you win the name.

• .ton domains have no yearly rent. A domain stays active for one year after its last record update. Updating any record — even re-saving your wallet address — resets the expiry to 365 days. On Namespace, each record update costs 0.01 gram.
• .eth domains are rented every year. On ENS you pay roughly $640 per year for a three-character name, $160 per year for four characters and $5 per year for five or more characters — for as long as you want to keep it.

Over five years, a four-character ENS name costs around $800 in rent alone, while a four-character .ton name costs only its winning bid plus a few cents of record updates. For a deeper comparison, see TON DNS vs ENS.

If a .ton owner does nothing for a full year, the name expires and can go back to auction. That is how premium names return to the market — Namespace lists them on the premium and expiring TON domains page, where you can add a name to your watchlist and get a push notification when it frees up.

How to bid on a TON domain with Namespace

1. Find a name. Use Namespace search to check a name on .ton, .eth, .sol and Telegram usernames at once, or browse the live auctions list.
2. Open the domain page to see its status, the current highest bid, the number of bids and when the auction ends.
3. Connect a TON wallet such as Tonkeeper or Telegram Wallet.
4. Place your bid — at least the minimum opening price for a new auction, or at least 5% above the current bid for a running one — and confirm the transaction in your wallet.
5. Watch the end time. If you are outbid, your gram comes back automatically and you can bid again.
6. Set up your domain after you win. Point it to your wallet address, add a bio, avatar and social links, or connect a TON Site — all from the domain page on Namespace.

Tips for winning a .ton auction

• Decide your maximum price before you bid and stick to it; late-hour extensions can keep an auction going.
• Check the same name on other chains first — Namespace shows whether the .eth, .sol and Telegram username versions are taken.
• Keep a little extra gram in your wallet for network fees on top of your bid.
• Once you own the name, update a record at least once a year so it never expires.

Start browsing

With opening prices at a multi-year low in dollar terms and no annual fee to hold a name, this is one of the cheapest moments to own a short .ton domain. See every open auction on the Namespace auctions page, or search for your name across every chain.