Blockchain websites: .eth names, IPFS hosting and what actually works in 2026

What a “blockchain website” actually is

A blockchain website, or web3 website, usually means two separate things that get sold together: a name recorded on a blockchain, such as yourname.eth, and hosting on a peer-to-peer network such as IPFS instead of a regular web host.

The page itself is almost always a static site: plain HTML, CSS and images. The blockchain part is the address book that says where those files live, not the place the pages run.

The verdict first: today, a blockchain website is a niche choice. Most visitors on Chrome, Safari or Firefox can’t open a .eth or .crypto address without an extension or a gateway. If you need customers to find you, a regular domain name on a normal host is still the practical base. A blockchain name can sit alongside it.

The names: ENS and Unstoppable Domains

ENS (.eth)

The Ethereum Name Service lets you register a .eth name that points to a crypto wallet address. It can also store a “contenthash,” a record that points to a website stored on IPFS, Swarm or Arweave, according to the ENS docs on decentralized websites.

A .eth name is rented by the year, like a regular domain. The ENS pricing article (dated September 12, 2026) lists these yearly fees:

• 5 or more characters: $5 a year
• 4 characters: $160 a year
• 3 characters: $640 a year

You pay in ETH on Ethereum Mainnet, plus a network fee called gas that changes with demand. ENS doesn’t accept cards, dollars or stablecoins, and ETH on other networks such as Base or Arbitrum won’t work. Renewals use the same fee table.

If you forget to renew, there’s a 90-day grace period. After that, the name is released, and for 21 days it carries a temporary premium that starts at $100 million and falls toward $0, after which anyone can register it at the normal fee.

Unstoppable Domains (.crypto, .wallet, .nft and others)

Unstoppable Domains sells blockchain names on its own extensions and, more recently, regular DNS domains too. Its help center says it does not currently offer web hosting.

The big recent change: in an official post dated August 25, 2026, the company said .crypto, .wallet, .polygon, .nft, .bitcoin, .dao, .unstoppable, .zil and .blockchain, plus five partner extensions including .brave, are not proceeding with applications in ICANN’s 2026 round. ICANN is the body that approves the regular internet extensions such as .com.

That means those names stay web3-only. They won’t become regular internet addresses through that round. The company offered refunds for purchases made on or after March 5, 2025 (June 5, 2024 for .blockchain and .anime), with requests open from August 25 to September 25, 2026. It said ICANN’s rules would have affected “4M+ existing Web3 names.”

We couldn’t confirm current prices for Unstoppable’s web3 names from an official price page, so we don’t quote them here.

The hosting: IPFS and gateways

IPFS is a peer-to-peer network that finds files by their content instead of by a server’s location. Each version of your site gets a content ID (a CID). Change one word and the CID changes, so the name record has to be updated to point at the new version.

Files on IPFS stay reachable only while at least one machine keeps a copy, which is called pinning. The ENS docs say files are either permanently stored on a network or “require to be actively stored on at least one machine.” In practice, that means running your own node or paying a pinning service.

A gateway is a regular web server that fetches IPFS content and shows it in a normal browser. The IPFS public utilities page says the free public gateways (ipfs.io, dweb.link and trustless-gateway.link) are “not intended to be part of your critical path or production infrastructure,” are rate limited, and that websites should not rely on the ipfs.io gateway for hosting of any kind. The IPFS docs suggest running your own gateway on a domain you control.

How a .eth website is put together

1. Build the site as static files, by hand, with a site generator or with an AI builder that exports code.
2. Upload the folder to IPFS through your own node or a pinning service, and note the CID. The ENS docs name deploy tools such as Omnipin, Orbiter, IPFS Deploy Action and 4EVERLAND.
3. In the ENS app, paste the CID into the name’s Content Hash field and save. ENS’s help article says this is one transaction that needs ETH on Ethereum Mainnet for gas, and only the name’s Manager wallet can set it.
4. Test it through a gateway such as yourname.eth.limo and in a browser that resolves .eth names.
5. Each time you update the site, repeat steps 2 and 3, because the CID changes with the content.

What opens in a normal browser today

Sources: ENS docs, Unstoppable developer docs and Brave’s IPFS post, which now says local node and protocol support for IPFS was deprecated as of August 22, 2024, with version 1.69.153. Browser support changes, so test your own address in a current version before you share it.

The gateway route is the one most visitors will use. With ENS, yourname.eth.limo opens the site in any browser. That works, but it means your visitors depend on a gateway someone else runs, much like a regular host.

One more naming system you may see is Handshake, which describes itself as “an experimental peer-to-peer root naming system.” Its site points to wallets and resolver software, not to support in everyday browsers.

What it costs

A blockchain website doesn’t have to cost much in fees, but the costs are spread across several services. Here is a three-year view using published prices.

The math: $5 x 3 = $15; $20 x 36 = $720. A small site on a 5-character .eth name with Pinata Free plus a regular .com comes to $63.24 over three years, plus gas, which we can’t predict because it changes with network demand. With paid pinning instead, it’s $783.24 plus gas. Pinata is one example of a pinning service; we list it because its prices are published, not because we recommend it over others.

There’s also a hidden cost: the time to learn a crypto wallet, buy ETH and keep the wallet’s recovery phrase safe. If you lose access to the wallet that holds the name, you lose control of the name.

For the free static hosts that can serve the same files, see our static site hosting guide.

Scams and risks to know

This is general information, not legal or investment advice. A website name is a tool, not an investment, and we make no predictions about the price of any token or name.

Crypto is a common setting for fraud, and US agencies have published clear warnings:

• The FTC says only scammers demand payment in cryptocurrency and only scammers guarantee profits or big returns. Crypto payments typically can’t be reversed and don’t come with the protections of credit and debit cards.
• The SEC’s investor alert from May 29, 2024 describes relationship scams, fake trading websites, impersonation with deepfakes, AI-themed pitches, pump-and-dump schemes and fake “recovery” services.
• The FBI’s IC3 warned on August 4, 2023 about fake NFT mint pages that ask you to “connect” your wallet, which links it to a drainer contract that empties it.

Rules of thumb for website owners: never connect your wallet to a site you reached from a direct message or ad, check the spelling of every address, ignore anyone who says a name will “go up in value,” and keep your recovery phrase offline. The FTC lists where to report fraud, including ReportFraud.ftc.gov and ic3.gov.

Practical risks matter too. A name can expire. Unpinned files can vanish. Public gateways can rate limit or block content. And if search engines and customers mostly arrive through a gateway address, you’ve added a middleman rather than removed one.

Who it makes sense for

It can make sense for: crypto projects, wallets and DAOs whose users already have web3 browsers or extensions; people who want a .eth name as a wallet address and a simple profile page; and archives or documents meant to stay reachable by content ID, with pinning in place.

It’s a poor fit for: a local business, a store, a booking site or anyone who needs Google traffic and email at their own domain. Those need a regular domain from a domain registrar, DNS records and normal hosting.

A sensible middle path: build a static site, host it on a regular static host with a .com, and if you want a web3 presence, point a .eth name at a pinned copy of the same files. Visitors on any browser get the .com; crypto users can use the .eth.

What to do next

• Pick a regular host for the files: static site hosting compared or Netlify vs Vercel.
• Choose a regular extension first: our guide to domain extensions.
• Learn how ICANN fits in: our encyclopedia entry on ICANN.