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.