Ethereum Name Service

Other

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is a decentralized naming protocol for wallets, websites, and all things Web3.

Risk Rating
Best
Protocol Code Quality
Protocol Maturity
Protocol Design
Summary
What we like
ENS is the leader in decentralized domain names with hundreds of thousands ENS names registered and the vast majority being .eth names.
What we like less
The protocol treasury does not distribute any revenue earned through ENS name registrations back to token holders.
What it means for you
Offers you a great way to integrate both .eth and DNS names into ENS to have your domain act as a wallet, Web3 username, and decentralized website.
Information
Exploit/Hacks
Unknown
Info
Key Metrics
Risk Assessment
Best
Protocol Code Quality
  • Code reviewed by several experienced auditors including ConsenSys and ChainSecurity
  • Public team promotes accountability
  • No documented protocol hacks since launch
Protocol Maturity
  • Core protocol launched in 2017; maturity over one year minimizes technical risk as smart contracts are well battle-tested
  • Core contracts are fully immutable
  • Low voting power concentration reduces risk
Protocol Design
  • No death spiral concerns
Things to know about Ethereum Name Service

How Ethereum Name Service works

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is a domain name registry protocol that maps a human-readable name to a machine-readable addresss like an Ethereum address. Besides Ethereum addresses, ENS also offers domains for other crypto wallets, websites, and metadata, with the goal of being the user's go-to Web3 username to unify all addresses and websites under a single ENS domain. The ENS architecture is built on two key smart contracts: the registry and the resolvers. The first smart contract is the ENS registry which records all the domains registered on ENS. Every domain and subdomain within the ENS registry stores three critical data points about each domain: the domain owner, the domain resolver, and the caching time-to-live (TTL) for the records under the domain. Domain owners can be smart contracts or external accounts. They have ability to set the resolver and TTL for the domain, change the ownership of subdomains, and transfer ownership of the domain to another address. The second smart contract is the resolvers which are specific to domains in the registry and translates the domain names to the machine-readable addresses, and vice versa. The resolver matches each domain to the corresponding user, website or address. All ENS domains are unique and limited so common names have likely been registered already. These domins are often flipped for profits by users or projects desiring them.

How Ethereum Name Service makes money

Users who wish to create a Web3 username through ENS start by searching for an available domain name on the ENS website. The registration process to confirm ownership of an ENS domain involves paying an annual fee in Ether. The protocol revenue is then sent to the DAO treasury to be used for community funding and other projects.

How you make money on Ethereum Name Service

There is currently no distribution of protocol revenue to ENS token holders as all fees earned are sent to the DAO treasury. Instead, users can bet on certain domain names to be popular in the future by registering and claiming ownership now and selling for a profit down the line.