Ethereum Name Service (ENS)
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is an Ethereum-based decentralized naming system. The ENS is a suite of smart contracts implementing a secure and decentralized domain name system, built upon the Public Suffix List. The smart contract automates the process of claiming and assigning human-readable names in a way that can be integrated into virtually any decentralized application.
The ENS is a digital address system for the Ethereum network. It involves typing an easy-to-remember .eth address instead of a long, hard-to-memorize public key. Anyone who has dealt with the Ethereum platform knows what a pain it can be to have to constantly switch between wallets or deal with long and complex addresses. The ENS system is an absolute lifesaver for those who find themselves in these dilemmas regularly and want to get down to business.
Why is ENS important?
ENS domains are a critical part of the Web3 ecosystem. They’re not just another domain extension. They allow for safe and secure ownership of anything on the Ethereum blockchain. This makes them valuable in all kinds of situations, including a wide array of DApps and smart contracts.
ENS names are critical infrastructure in the bid to migrate the web to Ethereum. You might have seen some Twitter handle usernames with .eth, ENS domains do not just replace domain names, but they are also in the process of replacing our social identity. They serve as identifiers that give humans and machines easy access to decentralized systems built using the Ethereum network.
ENS and Web 3
Web 3 is an umbrella term used to describe new Internet protocols built on top of blockchain technology. The idea is that decentralized apps running on the blockchain can provide users with more privacy and security than traditional applications. Web 3 stands in contrast to web 2, which refers to traditional web applications that rely on centralized servers and services — think Google.
ENS makes it easier for users to interact with Web 3. By resolving the need for users to constantly enter their private key or wallet address, ENS reduces friction in the user experience. Because of this, ENS-enabled applications are more likely to be adopted by mainstream users. Supporting multiple assets is critical for these new applications because they will be used across a broad spectrum of industries. Therefore, ENS provides an address that can represent any Ethereum asset, such as Ether (ETH), DAO tokens (DAO), Augur REP tokens (REP), etc. This can also make it easier for people to transition from one application or service to another by allowing them to maintain their familiar addressing scheme across all platforms.
How to Register an ENS Domain
- To create an ENS domain, all you need to do is purchase one, register it using your wallet, and send your desired name to the ENS domain contract address. The following 4 easy steps are a guide on how to register an ENS Domain;
- Create an account with the Ethereum Name Service. You can do this by going to https://ens.domains/ and clicking on “REGISTER” in the top left corner.
- Once you’ve registered, go to https://ens.domains/account/transfers/new and click on “DEX” under the “Contract Address” field. In the dialogue box that pops up, enter 0x2ac7d8e0e3b8a297b4bb88b4c4f056ec397e5aa5 as the Contract Address, and then click “Generate Transaction”.
- Use your wallet (Metamask or other web3-enabled extensions) to sign this transaction by pasting it into the text box that pops up when you click “Sign Transaction”. This will send your desired name to your ENS domain contract address.
- After a few minutes, your domain should now be available under the name tab of your ENS dashboard.
ENS as a Governance Token
The most obvious use case for ENS is as a governance token. Any DApp built on top of Ethereum could use ENS tokens to provide a decentralized governance model for any decisions within the DApp.
Using the getAddress function of ENS, members of the DApp could see how many votes are registered against each decision and then use those votes to determine which decision to take. The voting could be based on ether balance or any other metric, such as reputation or karma. This would allow for an incredibly rapid decision-making process that is decentralized and doesn’t require expensive announcements or other methods of distributing information.
If there are multiple decisions to be made by all participants in a DApp, they could even be bundled together into one vote until all of those decisions have been made, at which point those bundled decisions could be voted on individually.
Other Use Cases of ENS;
The ENS system is still in its infancy, but it already has a number of use cases aside from being a governance token.
ENS can be used as an alternative to other decentralized systems such as Uport. These are the only fully functioning systems that manage human-readable names on Ethereum, so they can serve as a backbone for many use cases. However, ENS offers some advantages over those systems, including built-in transferability and optional privacy features.
In addition, ENS can be used as a general purpose token for managing ownership over digital assets. This opens up many possibilities for organizations trying to integrate distributed ledger technology into their business models without having to build their own blockchain infrastructure from scratch.
Market Analysis
ENS can be bought and sold on all major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, FTX.com, and Bybit. 20 million ENS tokens are currently in circulation, with a market capitalization of $239 million as of this writing. The top 100 addresses hold 90% of the total supply of ENS, and the current market price is $11.9.
Conclusion
ENS is a new tool, not only to browse and manage your Ethereum-based assets but also to exchange and monitor your Anti-Counterfeiting Certificates. ENS will make the internet more reliable and our digital identities more secure. I am excited to see how this technology changes the way we interact with each other in the future.
Takeaway: ENS will be huge!
