Introducing XBAN: Account Numbers for Ethereum
Ethereum addresses were designed for machines, not humans.
A typical address looks like this:
0x1062CCC9F9a4bBcf565799683b6c00eA525ECb9F
It works well as the underlying identifier of an Ethereum account, but it is cumbersome to read, difficult to communicate verbally, and unfamiliar to most people outside crypto.
XBAN changes that.
XBAN gives an Ethereum address an IBAN-style account number:
XE 60 0000 0047 6193 5072
IBAN stands for International Bank Account Number. It is a standardized format used by banks to identify accounts in a way that is structured, machine-readable, and resistant to common typing errors.
XBAN follows the same general philosophy for Ethereum.
The structure is deliberately familiar. XE is fixed, followed by two checksum digits and a numeric account number grouped in blocks of four.
That gives XBAN several useful properties immediately:
- Digits only after the fixed
XEprefix — easy to type, particularly on mobile. - Easy to verify visually — numbers are grouped into short blocks, similar to IBANs and credit card numbers.
- Typo-safe — XBAN uses the same Mod-97 checksum mechanism as IBAN to detect typing errors before a payment is made.
XBAN uses 16 decimal digits for the account-number component (the part after the checksum), providing just under 10 quadrillion possible account numbers.
The goal is to give Ethereum accounts an account number in a format that users are familiar with and that existing financial software can easily work with.
A bank-style account number for Ethereum
XBAN is a numeric identifier assigned to an Ethereum address.
Each XBAN resolves to exactly one Ethereum address, and each Ethereum address can have one XBAN.
Once assigned, the relationship is permanent.
There are no renewals and no possibility for the account number to later resolve to somebody else’s address.
The Ethereum address remains the underlying account identifier. XBAN is the account number people and applications can use on top of it.
Names and account numbers serve different purposes
Human-readable names are useful too.
With XNS, for example, an Ethereum address can have a name such as:
alice.eth
A name is designed to be memorable and meaningful.
An account number is deliberately the opposite.
A number carries no brand, identity, meaning, emotion or association. There is little reason to squat on one.
This distinction also makes XBAN suitable for a registration model that would not make sense for a naming system:
Anyone can register an XBAN for any Ethereum address.
The resulting XBAN simply becomes the permanent account number of that address.
Doing the same with names could create unwanted outcomes. If arbitrary third parties were allowed to assign names to other people’s addresses, those names could be misleading, offensive or intentionally chosen to create an unwanted association.
Account numbers do not have that problem.
An XBAN is not intended to say who you are.
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It simply says which account this is.
That is why XNS and XBAN complement each other well: names provide a human identity layer, while XBAN provides a neutral account-number layer.
Typo detection built in
Every XBAN contains a checksum based on the Mod-97 method, the same general checksum mechanism used by IBAN.
Take:
XE 60 0000 0047 6193 5072
The 60 is not part of the underlying account number. It is calculated from the rest of the XBAN.
Applications can therefore validate an XBAN before resolving it or constructing a transaction.
If someone accidentally changes a digit while entering the account number, the checksum will generally no longer be valid and the application can warn the user immediately.
This makes XBAN particularly suitable for situations where account details are displayed, communicated, re-entered, or handled by financial software.
Simple and permanent registration
XBAN is intended to be infrastructure, not a scarce digital asset.
Registration has a small one-time fee:
0.0005 ETH
There are no renewal fees.
Of the registration fee:
- 0.0002 ETH is burned through DETH (XBAN:
XE 66 0000 0000 0000 0003) - 0.0003 ETH goes toward protocol development
How to get started
XBAN is available at xban.xyz.
Connect an Ethereum wallet, enter the Ethereum address for which you want to register an XBAN, and press Register.
XBAN automatically assigns the next available account number and permanently links it to that address.
The website also allows users to resolve any XBAN to its associated Ethereum address.
The XBAN smart contract and complete specification are open source on GitHub.
Conclusion
Ethereum addresses were made for machines, not for users.
XBAN adds a familiar account-number format on top of Ethereum that users already know from traditional finance.
It is numeric.
It is structured.
It is easy to type.
It includes a checksum.
And its format is familiar.
XBAN is the account number layer for Ethereum.
Easy to type. Easy to verify. Typo-safe.
