# Tutorial: Your First VerusID

A beginner-friendly walkthrough to registering your own self-sovereign identity on the Verus blockchain.

Estimated time: 15–20 minutes
Difficulty: Beginner
What you'll learn: What a VerusID is, why you'd want one, and exactly how to create one step by step.

A VerusID is a self-sovereign blockchain identity. Think of it like a username that:

• You own — not a company, not a platform. It's on the blockchain and only you control it.
• Is human-readable — instead of RXyz123ABCdefGHI456..., you're just alice@
• Can receive funds — people send coins to alice@ instead of a long address
• Stores data — attach metadata, keys, and content to your identity
• Is revocable/recoverable — if your keys are compromised, you can revoke and recover (unlike regular crypto addresses)
• Can launch currencies — your VerusID is the foundation for creating tokens

• Verus CLI installed and synced to testnet (setup guide)
• A wallet with some VRSCTEST (~100 VRSCTEST for a root ID on testnet — same cost as mainnet but with free test coins)
• A name you want to register (letters, numbers, spaces — no special characters)

./verus -testnet getinfo

What you should see:

{
  "version": 2000753,
  "blocks": 926961,
  "headers": 926961,
  "connections": 8,
  ...
}

✅ blocks should equal headers (fully synced).
✅ connections should be > 0 (connected to network).

If you get an error: Start the daemon first:

./verusd -testnet -bootstrap

You need an R-address. This will be the primary address that controls your VerusID.

./verus -testnet getnewaddress "verusid-primary"

What you should see:

RXyz123ABCdefGHI456...

📝 Copy this address. You'll use it multiple times. We'll call it YOUR_ADDRESS from here on.

Check your balance:

./verus -testnet getbalance

What you should see:

0.00000000

or some number. You need ~100 VRSCTEST for a root VerusID (same cost as mainnet). Get free VRSCTEST from the Discord faucet.

How to get testnet coins:

• Ask in the Verus Discord #testnet channel
• Mine briefly: ./verus -testnet setgenerate true 1 (then stop with setgenerate false after getting some coins)

Before committing, check if your desired name is available:

./verus -testnet getidentity "alice@"

If available (what you want to see):

Cannot find identity

If taken (pick a different name):

{
  "identity": {
    "name": "alice",
    ...
  }
}

Your name:

• ✅ Can have: letters, numbers, hyphens, spaces
• ❌ Cannot have: \ / : * ? " < > | @ .
• ❌ Cannot start or end with spaces
• ❌ Cannot have multiple consecutive spaces
• Is case-insensitive (Alice = alice = ALICE)

This is a security step. It hides your chosen name in a hash so miners can't see it and steal it before you register.

./verus -testnet registernamecommitment "YOUR_NAME" "YOUR_ADDRESS" "REFERRAL_IDENTITY"

The referral identity is optional but recommended. If you don't have a referrer, use "Verus Coin Foundation@" as the default — it supports the project and can reduce your registration cost:

./verus -testnet registernamecommitment "YOUR_NAME" "YOUR_ADDRESS" "Verus Coin Foundation@"

Example with actual values:

./verus -testnet registernamecommitment "alice" "<R-address>" "Verus Coin Foundation@"

What you should see:

{
  "txid": "a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2",
  "namereservation": {
    "version": 1,
    "name": "alice",
    "parent": "iJhCezBExJHvtyH3fGhNnt2NhU4Ztkf2yq",
    "salt": "7f8a9b2c3d4e5f6a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d6e7f8a9b0c1d2e3f4a5b6c7d8e9f0a",
    "referral": "",
    "nameid": "iJKLmnoPQRstUVwxYZ123..."
  }
}

⚠️ CRITICAL: Copy and save this ENTIRE output somewhere safe!
You need the txid, salt, and nameid for the next step. If you lose the salt, your commitment is wasted and you'll need to start over.

Why not just register in one command? Security!

1. Commit (this step) — publishes a hash of your name. No one can see what name you chose.
2. Register (next step) — reveals your name. Since your commitment was first, no one can front-run you.

This prevents miners from seeing "alice" in the mempool and quickly registering it themselves.

The commitment must be mined into a block before you can register. Wait ~1 minute (1 block):

./verus -testnet gettransaction "YOUR_COMMITMENT_TXID"

What you're looking for:

{
  "confirmations": 1,
  ...
}

✅ confirmations must be at least 1. If it says 0, wait and try again.

Now use the commitment output to register. Replace the values below with YOUR actual values from Step 5:

./verus -testnet registeridentity '{
  "txid": "YOUR_COMMITMENT_TXID",
  "namereservation": {
    "version": 1,
    "name": "YOUR_NAME",
    "parent": "YOUR_PARENT_FROM_STEP5",
    "salt": "YOUR_SALT",
    "referral": "",
    "nameid": "YOUR_NAMEID"
  },
  "identity": {
    "name": "YOUR_NAME",
    "primaryaddresses": ["YOUR_ADDRESS"],
    "minimumsignatures": 1,
    "version": 3
  }
}'

⚠️ CRITICAL: The namereservation must include ALL fields exactly as returned in Step 5 — version, name, parent, salt, referral, and nameid. Missing any field causes a hash mismatch error. The safest approach: copy your entire namereservation output from Step 5 exactly as-is.

Note: The parent field will be "iJhCezBExJHvtyH3fGhNnt2NhU4Ztkf2yq" on testnet (VRSCTEST) or "i5w5MuNik5NtLcYmNzcvaoixooEebB6MGV" on mainnet (VRSC). Always use the exact value from your Step 5 output.

Full example with actual values:

./verus -testnet registeridentity '{
  "txid": "a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2c3d4e5f6a1b2",
  "namereservation": {
    "version": 1,
    "name": "alice",
    "parent": "iJhCezBExJHvtyH3fGhNnt2NhU4Ztkf2yq",
    "salt": "7f8a9b2c3d4e5f6a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d6e7f8a9b0c1d2e3f4a5b6c7d8e9f0a",
    "referral": "",
    "nameid": "iJKLmnoPQRstUVwxYZ123..."
  },
  "identity": {
    "name": "alice",
    "primaryaddresses": ["<R-address>"],
    "minimumsignatures": 1,
    "version": 3
  }
}'

What you should see:

f6e5d4c3b2a1f6e5d4c3b2a1f6e5d4c3b2a1f6e5d4c3b2a1f6e5d4c3b2a1f6e5

That's the registration transaction ID. 🎉

Wait for 1 confirmation, then:

./verus -testnet getidentity "alice@"

What you should see:

{
  "identity": {
    "version": 3,
    "name": "alice",
    "primaryaddresses": [
      "<R-address>"
    ],
    "minimumsignatures": 1,
    "revocationauthority": "alice@",
    "recoveryauthority": "alice@",
    ...
  }
}

Congratulations! You now own alice@ on the Verus blockchain! 🎉

Notice that revocationauthority and recoveryauthority default to yourself. This means:

• You can revoke your own ID if compromised
• You can recover it after revocation

(In production, you'd set these to trusted friends or backup identities for extra security.)

Now anyone can send coins to your ID instead of a long address:

# Someone else runs this:
./verus -testnet sendcurrency "*" '[{"address":"alice@","amount":1}]'

Check balance:

./verus -testnet getbalance

On mainnet, a root VerusID costs ~100 VRSC (80 VRSC with a referral (as low as ~20 net with a full referral chain)). Other options: free IDs from the Valu community program, cheap IDs on PBaaS chains (pennies), or subIDs under an existing namespace (fractions of a cent). Example with referral:

./verus registernamecommitment "alice" "YOUR_ADDRESS" "existingfriend@"

The referral identity must already exist. Both you and the referrer benefit.

✅ What a VerusID is and why it matters
✅ The two-step commitment/registration process
✅ How to check name availability
✅ How to register and verify your identity
✅ How to receive coins to your VerusID

• Update your VerusID — add multisig, change authorities
• Launch a token — your VerusID can become a currency
• Send and receive — practice moving coins around

Last updated: 2026-02-07