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What is a .sol domain name?

A .sol domain name is a Solana Name Service name that points at a wallet. What it does, why it is also written .sns, and how Cherry rooms check it.

Cherry Team Published Updated 4 min read

A .sol domain name is a human-readable Solana name, something like alice.sol, that points at a wallet address and carries records such as a profile picture. Solana Name Service (SNS) runs the registry, and since August 2026 the same name is also written alice.sns. On Cherry, the wallet-to-wallet messenger and community app for crypto, that name is your display name, your avatar, a thing anyone can message, and a rule a group chat can check before it lets you in.

How a .sol domain name works

SNS describes these names as human-readable names that map to Solana wallet addresses, images, text, and IPFS content identifiers. You register a name, it lives in your wallet as an on-chain account, and you can sell it or point it at a different address later. Apps read it both ways: type alice.sol into a send box and it resolves to an address, open a profile and the app shows the name where a truncated address would sit. The picture record is what lets a wallet or a chat app show you an avatar without asking you to upload one.

Why you see .sol and .sns

Two spellings, one set of names. SNS announced the .sol Upgrade on 3 August 2026, paused registrations on 17 August 2026 and took the holder snapshot shortly after. A name registered before that snapshot keeps its records, subdomains and settings, and displays as yourname.sns in apps that have updated. SNS says a matching yourname.sol will arrive in the same wallet at no charge, late September to early October 2026, and that a holder who keeps the name in a wallet they control has nothing to do. Registrations were expected to reopen under .sns in early to mid-September.

For a gated room, the spelling does not matter. Cherry treats .sol and .sns as one registry, so a rule written either way admits the same wallets.

What a .sol name does on Cherry

It replaces your address across the app, and it is the string people @mention in a room. In your profile you can set the avatar source to SNS, described there as “Your SNS picture”, and the picture your name already carries becomes your avatar. Anyone can DM alice.sol without knowing the address, and the conversation waits if that wallet has never opened Cherry. From the same profile screen you can search for a name, register it if it is free or buy it from its owner if it is listed, and tick “Set as my primary domain” when it lands.

A group can also gate on it. The owner turns on “Hold a wallet domain” while creating or editing the room, picks the ending, and the requirement line members see reads “Hold a .sol domain”. The list of endings is wider than SNS: names from the AllDomains registry work the same way, so a room can require a .bonk name and check it on-chain with no verify bot in the middle.

SNS Club is one room that does exactly this. Entry is “Hold a .sol domain”, and it had 1,455 members in September 2026.

You can join it, or gate your own room the same way, at chat.cherry.fun .

.sol and .skr, side by side

A .skr domain comes with a Solana Seeker phone and is soulbound: chosen once during setup, never sold, never renamed. A .sol name is bought and sold like any on-chain account. That difference decides how a room checks it. Because a .skr name cannot change hands, Cherry verifies it once when you join; a .sol name can move, so Cherry keeps checking in the background, and the member is paywalled when the name leaves the wallet.

FAQ

Is a .sns domain the same as a .sol domain?

Yes. Solana Name Service runs one registry with two labels, and a name registered before the August 2026 snapshot keeps its records and settings; SNS says holders from before the snapshot also receive the matching .sol spelling at no charge, late September to early October 2026. On Cherry a room rule written either way admits the same wallets.

Sources

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