What you need to know about Ethereum Name Service (ENS)
Introduction
One of blockchain’s biggest challenges is improving its ease of use and accessibility. If we look at payments using Ethereum (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC), new and even experienced users can find long wallet addresses that could be clearer. Hexadecimal strings of numbers are simple for a computer to read but less intuitive for human users.
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) combats the problem by allowing anyone to create simple website-style addresses that are easier to remember and use.
What Is Ethereum Name Service (ENS)?
On the Ethereum blockchain, Ethereum Name Service is a distributed naming system.
It was founded in 2017 by Nick Johnson. It converted complex identifiers, such as crypto wallet addresses and long hexadecimal strings of numbers and hashes, into more straightforward and accessible wallet names. ENS facilitates the sharing and remembering of Ethereum addresses on the blockchain.
How does Ethereum Name Service work?
An ENS domain name uses ERC-721 Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to represent a unique address. You can transfer a domain by transferring or selling the NFT to someone else. Wallet addresses and other information are attached to each token. A smart contract owns a top-level domain called .eth if you want to create CryptoTinyLabs.eth.
To purchase an Ethereum domain name, you can check its availability and rent it yearly. Popular names were auctioned off, and the highest bidder could attach addresses, create sub-domains, and loan or sell their domain name. For example, if you owned CryptoTinyLabs.eth, you could also create learn.CryptoTinyLabs.eth for free.
What can you do with ENS?
If you’ve ever got confused with multiple addresses when sending cryptocurrencies, you’ll understand the need for ENS. Like you would save a friend’s phone number under their name, ENS lets users turn long numbers into easy-to-remember words, creating a more direct experience with less chance for errors.
The natural suffix for ENS is.ETH, which provides the comprehensive sec
An ENS domain owner can also create subdomains to which they can assign other data. It doesn’t always have to be a wallet address, either, and you could use it to direct to a smart contract, transaction, or metadata.
ENS Use Cases
1. Cryptocurrency Wallets
The most common use for ENS is storing cryptocurrencies in wallets and exchanging them.
Buying, selling, sending and receiving cryptocurrencies can all be done using an ENS. ENS supports the addresses of any cryptocurrency or blockchain.
2. Decentralized Web
It’s possible to launch censorship-resistant decentralized websites with ENS. It’s as easy as uploading a website to an IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) and accessing it with an ENS name.
Brave, Opera, MetaMask and Status, among others, support ENS-IPFS websites. In browsers without native support for ENS-IPFS websites, users may affix “.link” to their .eth website name via a system called EthDNS.
In 2019, ENS added support for decentralized websites based on IPFS and Swarm networks. The same year, it added support for Tor .onion and multi-coin addresses to allow users to store any cryptocurrency address in their name’s records.
3. Identity
All personal information, like an email address or an avatar, can be attached to an ENS username. It means that ENS-enabled usernames may become our primary digital identity on the web.
ENS Funding
The projects had no VC investors. However, the protocol has received financial support from the Ethereum Foundation, Binance, Ethereum Classic Labs and Protocol Labs.
The ENS Token
The ENS TOKEN is an ERC-20 token standard used for token delegation for its DAO and the governance of the ENS protocol’s key components like .eth pricing, the price oracle, etc.
Early adopters of the Ethereum name service protocol could claim their ENS tokens through the official website. Anyone else can buy the token via a few exchanges like Binance, Uniswap, Sushi, and OKEx, to name a few.
What’s the Difference Between ENS and Other Naming Services?
The main focus of ENS is to provide a distributed and trustworthy naming domain for Web3 users who interact on the Ethereum blockchain. On the other hand, most naming services, such as Namecoin and Blockstack, are trying to completely replace the DNS naming service. ENS doesn’t share the same approach and instead seeks to coexist with the Web2 domain.
Bottomline
ENS domains have given blockchain users a more accessible and efficient way of making payments via crypto wallets.
The system’s decentralized network also provides more autonomy and places control in the hands of the ENS community, which is why this space could be a lucrative investment opportunity in the long run. places
