Ethereum Name Service (ENS)

Fredrick Awino
06.08.2022
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Ethereum is among the most prominent open-source blockchain that anchors a native cryptocurrency called ether. Any serious cryptocurrency trader or investor can’t by any chance miss having details about ether, it’s strong points and downsides. Over and above the basic knowledge about Ethereum, it greatly pays to goa notch higher and dice Ethereum Name Service as an extra.

WARNING: Investing in crypto, or other markets, can be of a high risk for your savings. Do not invest money you cannot afford to lose, because there is a risk for losing all of your money when investing in crypto, stocks, CFDs or other investments options. For example 77% of retail CFD accounts lose money.

The Ethereum Name Service refers to an open and distributed naming system based on the blockchain Ethereum. The job of ENS is mapping human-readable names including alice.eth’ and machine-readable identifiers like metadata. The other information that can be read is content hashes, Ethereum addresses, and the other cryptocurrency addresses.

ENS is used in proposing as well as voting for changes in the protocol. It also maps the long crypto addresses to simple URLs. Instead of traders copying the long addresses, they may send the crypto to a domain like “Alice.eth.” ENS aims at being the decentralized internet naming protocol by developing Web 3.0 usernames interoperable in all the decentralized applications and blockchains.

The Background of ENS

The world of cryptocurrency and blockchain is still in its early stages. It is just like the IP addresses during the early stages of the internet. However, cryptos are different in that they come in form of hexadecimal numbers. Thus, users can easily use them easily in various blockchain-based solutions.

Taking a look at the crypto transactions, one can easily understand the issue of accessibility. For instance, in case you want to send a crypto payment, then a public wallet address is needed. This address is a string of digits and letters arranged randomly. In addition, various crypto users have a unique public addresses for various cryptos. Through this, you are able to notice the way crypto is complicated. Then enter your ENS.

Ways of Using ENS

One of the benefits of ENS is enhancing the ease of use as well as the accessibility of crypto solutions. ENS comprises of resolver, the ENS registry, and Ethereum-based smart contracts. The ENS registry works on documenting all registered domains in ENS. Also, it stores three important pieces of information concerning the domain. The information include the domain’s owner, caching time to live for all records in the domain, and the resolver for the domain. The resolver works by translating machine-readable addresses into domain names

The Process of Buying ENS Domain

Before commencing the registration, you should have a wallet. Besides, you should ensure that you have at least $50 worth of Ethereum in enhancing the registration of a domain. You should be able to pay the fees which are about $50 1-year domain subscription as well as gas fees.

  1. The first step is opening your wallet. You also must ensure that the balance is about $50 of ETH.
  2. The second step is navigating the ENS manager. This is done by going to this address https://app.ens.domains/
  3. Searching for the desired .eth name. Here, you have the opportunity of choosing the name that you like. In case the name is unavailable, then you can click the vertical grey bar on the left of the registered ENS records.
  4. The fourth step is selecting the period. In this step, you got to choose the number of years you will own the name. Remember the minimum period is 1 year. In addition, you have the chance of extending the registration period in the future.
  5. It is in the fifth step that you begin the registration process. You will click the option of ‘request to register.’ A box will pop up giving you the option of selecting the preferred gas fee. After that, you click confirm in approving the transaction.
  6. Waiting and following the page’s instructions. After the above process, you remain active while waiting for the process to be complete. You will have to wait a little longer in ensuring that another person is not registering the same name. You will also see a green bar that shows the registration process’s progress.
  7. The seventh step is finishing the registration by clicking the blue button ‘register.’ After that, you submit the transaction and after it is confirmed then your ENS is registered.
  8. The last step is setting a resolver. This is done by clicking ‘manage name’ in setting ENS records as well as the binding old address to the new ENS. Under the resolver, you should click ‘set’ and ‘use public resolver’ then ‘save.’

Why there is an increase in ENS Registration

One of the reasons why there is an increase in ENS registration is because 000.eth is bough for 300ETH and it is a record-keeping number. This is the event that might have resulted in the increased purchases leading to an increase in registrations. Also, in July 2022, the cost of Ethereum gas fees fell. On July 3rd the average gas fee of Ethereum fell to $1.57. This is a number that has not been seen since 2020. The gas fees refer to the transaction charges in approving transactions.

In May 2022, the gas fee was almost $200. However, the narrative is changing. Due to the high cost of gas fees, Decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs also spiked. Unfortunately, the gas fees have reduced when the NFTs sales have highly reduced. For instance, in September 2021, the sales of NFTs were at 224, 768 NFTs per day. Currently, the sale of NFTs is at 19, 000 NFTs per day.

Author Fredrick Awino