What is the Ethereum Name Service (ENS)?

31.05.2022

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#Ethereum #Ethereum Name Service #Kriptorium: Ethereum #Web 3.0

Key points

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is a distributed naming system built on the Ethereum blockchain.
A domain registered with ENS is linked to the owner’s blockchain address and is a non-fungible token (NFT). This enables on-chain control over domain ownership.
The project has a DAO and the ENS governance token. You pay in ETH to register a domain and cover its rental fees.

How does ENS differ from DNS?

In the internet’s early days, unwieldy site addresses were a problem. In 1983 the American computer scientist Paul Mockapetris devised the Domain Name System (DNS), which still runs today. It maps an IP address to a human-friendly site address. For example, instead of entering 46.101.169.75, you can simply type forklog.io in the search bar to reach the publication’s site.

Computers understand IP addresses; DNS links a domain name to an IP address. Thus, when a user wants to visit a web page, they can enter a domain name and DNS translates it into the corresponding IP address and forwards the request to the server.

ENS has a similar goal, but its underlying architecture differs. The Ethereum Name Service is built on a blockchain and is a DNS analogue for Web3. Ownership verification for a domain is based primarily on its blockchain address.

How does the Ethereum Name Service work?

ENS replaces manual administration with Ethereum smart contracts, making it secure and censorship-resistant. ENS relies on two core contracts:

Registrar — keeps the registry of registered domain names and stores information about owners and their blockchain addresses.

Resolver — performs bidirectional translation between blockchain addresses and names using hashing, and maps domains to owner data.

ENS is hierarchical. Anyone who owns a domain can configure subdomains at will. For example, if a user owns alice.eth, they can create pay.alice.eth.

Owners of second-level domains in DNS can also import them into the Ethereum network and use them as usernames across decentralised applications.

At the end of 2021, developers at the non-profit True Names fully integrated the DNS namespace with ENS. At present, imports of domains ending in “.com”, “.org”, “.io”, “.app” and others are supported.

According to official data, more than 1.1 million names are currently registered on ENS.

How to register a domain on ENS?

To register a domain on ENS, go to the official website and connect a crypto wallet. You can check availability there.

Suppose you want to register the domain “newsforklog”. Enter it in the search field to see that “newsforklog.eth” is available.

Next, click the domain name. A pop-up will display the registration request, the rental term and the estimated cost in Ethereum and US dollars. You pay in ether (ETH) for the domain rental and the registration transaction.

What is the Ethereum Name Service and how does it work? — Data: screenshot from ENS Domains

Then confirm the approval transaction in the connected wallet. After this, the user officially becomes the owner of a Web3 domain.

Domains provided by the ENS service are ERC-721 non-fungible tokens on Ethereum. Ownership of the NFT is recorded on the blockchain, so after renting, domain names can be transferred or, for example, put up for sale.

Does ENS host websites?

An ENS address primarily refers to a blockchain address. Registering such an address does not mean a website with content will necessarily open when you type it into a browser.

The Ethereum Name Service is not a cloud storage service—specialised servers handle that. They typically run over HTTP, though there is a decentralised alternative: IPFS.

How much does an ENS domain cost?

Initially, ENS auctioned popular names three to six letters long via Vickrey auctions. For example, the domain “exchange.eth” sold for 6,660 ETH, and “weather.eth” for 300 ETH.

Today, addresses can be purchased without an auction and rented for several years. The price depends on the number of characters, the registration period and availability. The minimum cost is $5 per year.

How do I visit a site with a .eth address?

There are several ways to access a site whose domain is registered with ENS and ends in “.eth”:

1. Via web browsers with native support: Brave (desktop), the mobile version of Opera, the MetaMask mobile app, and the Status and Puma browsers.

2. In Google Chrome (desktop) — using the MetaMask extension. Type the address in the bar with a trailing “/”, for example: vitalik.eth/.

3. In any web browser that does not support ENS. Add “.link” or “.limo” to the end of the address and the site will load. For example, vitalik.eth.limo.

What is the ENS token?

The Ethereum Name Service is an open-source, decentralised protocol. It is not controlled by a centralised company but governed by a DAO.

Hence the project has a governance token of the same name. It grants the right to vote on community proposals. A holder can also initiate a vote on a given issue—with a minimum stake of 100,000 ENS.

In future, the core developer team intends to hand control of the project’s funds, as well as the pricing and registration mechanism for .eth domain names, to the DAO.

The total supply of ENS tokens is 100 million; a little over 20 million were in circulation at the time of writing.

Can you send ETH using ENS addresses?

ENS is integrated into some non-custodial crypto wallets. This allows you to send ether by entering the recipient’s associated domain name instead of their blockchain address.