A Beginner's Guide to Digital Identity

You already know how domains work. Type “example.com” into your browser, and you land on a website. Web3 digital identities look similar, a name followed by a dot and an ending, but they work in a whole new way.

Instead of being stored in a private company database, a Web3 identity lives on the blockchain and sits in your own digital wallet. That means it’s not just an address. It’s something you actually own.

What Is a Web3 Digital Identity?

A Web3 digital identity is a readable name, like hello.locker, that’s recorded on a blockchain and owned by your wallet.

Think of it as a username, a payment address and a digital ID card rolled into one. Instead of sharing a long string of random characters like 0x4c…9a2f, you share a name people can remember. And because it’s held in your wallet like any other digital asset, you’re the one in control of it.

How It’s Different From a Traditional Domain

Traditional Domains: Rented Through a System

With a regular domain, you register the name through a company and renew it on a schedule. The record of who owns it lives in a private database run by that company and the organizations above it in the domain system. You use the name, but the system manages it.

Web3 Identities: Owned in Your Wallet

With a Web3 identity, the ownership record lives on a blockchain, a public ledger that anyone can check and no single company controls. Your name sits in your wallet, and changes to it, like transfers or profile updates, are made from that wallet.

How Web3 Identities Work

You don’t need to know the technical details to use one, but here’s the short version.

Smart Contracts Keep the Record

When you claim a Web3 identity, a smart contract, a program that runs automatically on the blockchain, creates your name and records your wallet as its owner. Transfers and updates follow the same open rules, recorded publicly, so there’s no hidden activity or behind-the-scenes changes.

Apps Look Up Your Name on the Blockchain

When someone sends crypto to your name or an app displays it, that app checks the blockchain to see which wallet the name belongs to. This lookup is called resolving the name.

Because the record is stored across many computers worldwide, it doesn’t depend on any single server staying online.

Just keep in mind that not every browser or app can look up Web3 names yet. Many wallets and Web3 apps support them, while some browsers need an extension.

Why Web3 Identities Are Worth Having

Web3 identities are still a growing field, but they already offer real advantages:

• A name instead of a wallet address. Easier to share, easier to remember and harder to mistype.
• Verifiable ownership. Anyone can check the blockchain to confirm a name belongs to you.
• One identity across Web3. Use your name in apps, games and communities that support it.
• A profile you control. Add an avatar, links and details, all managed from your wallet.

.locker: One Name for Web2 and Web3

Most Web3 identities live only in Web3. Most domains live only in the traditional web. .locker brings them together.

Your .locker name works as a domain and a Web3 digital identity. It’s an official, ICANN-accredited domain ending that also lives on the blockchain and connects to your wallet through the Ethereum Name Service (ENS). That gives you one unified identity for your website, the way people reach you and the way you get paid.

You manage it all from a wallet you control.

New .locker identities live on Ethereum. Identities claimed before September 1, 2026, were minted on Bitcoin through Stacks.

Ready to get started? Claim your .locker identity today.