What is ENS? Ethereum Name Service Explained

When the Internet first became popular, one of the main issues consumers encountered was the mismatch between domain names and internet protocol (IP) addresses.

As a result, they were quite hostile to the typical person who had to physically key in the IP address of the website they wished to view.

Cryptocurrency addresses are much longer strings of digits and letters than conventional IP addresses. A user must input the address and double-check that all of the numbers and letters are spelled correctly if they want to send money to another user across the Ethereum network.

ENS


It's also crucial to understand how harsh blockchain-based technology is in this regard. This is due to the fact that if you insert an incorrect address or a letter, the money you send would be permanently gone. Since there is no centralized organization to get in touch with to cancel or refund the transaction, the money is lost.

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And the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) was created in a similar manner to how Domain Name Services (DNS) were created when using the Internet.

What is Ethereum Name Service (ENS)?

The Domain Name Service (DNS) model is exactly what the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) adopts and modifies for the needs of Ethereum users. The Ethereum Name Service, which runs on the Ethereum blockchain, is fundamentally a distributed, open, and expandable naming system.

It seeks to translate readable human names into readable by machine IDs. In this case, the human-readable name may be something like "cactus.eth," and the machine-readable identity could be the Ethereum address (or other cryptocurrency addresses, for that matter).

We have provided an illustration of what it looks like in the image below. The Ethereum Foundation owns the address. For the sake of this instruction, the ENS domain name that we created is merely an illustration:

The common Ethereum address is transformed into text that can be read by humans (foundation.eth). This suggests that users may use "foundation.eth" rather than the default address to converse or transfer funds. Naturally, this greatly simplifies things for frequent users and greatly reduces the likelihood of an error.

The system "has similar purposes to DNS, the Internet's Domain Name Service, but has significantly different design due to the possibilities and limits afforded by the Ethereum blockchain," according to the official ENS description.

Similar to DNS, ENS also uses a system of domains—dot-separated hierarchical names—to conduct its operations. A domain's owner also has total authority over its subdomains.

How Does ENS Work?

The Ethereum Name Service consists of two essential parts. These are, specifically, the resolvers and the registry. The system's architecture appears as follows:



How ens work


Registry

The registry is made up of a smart contract that stores three crucial pieces of information about each domain and subdomain as well as a list of all of them. These are the items:

  • The domain's owner
  • The resolver for the domain
  • The caching time-to-live for each record in the domain

The ENS registry's goal is to link a name to the resolver in charge of it, which is a pretty simple goal. Owners of domains registered with the ENS registry are currently permitted to:

  • Modify the ownership of the subdomains
  • Transfer ownership of their domain to a different address
  • Modify the domain's resolver and time-to-live (TTL)

Resolvers

On the other side, resolvers are in charge of the conversion of names into addresses. Any contract that complies with the necessary requirements can function as a resolver in the Ethereum Name Service. However, there are two processes involved in resolving a name in ENS.

The first step is to find out from the registry which resolver is in charge of the given name. The second step entails requesting the response to the query from that specific resolver. It appears as follows in terms of architecture:

resolver


The Difference Between DNS and ENS

Paul Mockapetris, a US computer scientist, developed the Domain Name Service (DNS) in 1983. It was based on Elizabeth Feinler's research, an American scientist.

Simply said, the DNS's function is to link human-friendly domain names with internet protocol (IP) addresses. Instead of entering the precise numeric IP address, users can now type the name of the website.

The Ethereum Name Service makes an analogous but distinct effort to make it simpler for users and programs to read and share bitcoin addresses.

How to Register an Ethereum Name Service (ENS) Domain?

Simply having a hot wallet like MetaMask is all that is required to register an Ethereum Name Service domain.

Enter the domain name you want to register at app.ens.domains (the official ENS domain registration website). This will confirm that it is available.

Ethereum Name Service Governance

Each of the various arms that make up the Ethereum Name Service's governance has its own significance.

ENS Token + Distribution

The ENS token is a common token that runs on the Ethereum blockchain and adheres to the ERC-20 standard. Its primary function is to be applied to the system's governance.

Holders of tokens have the ability to vote and propose suggestions. The forum discuss.ens.domains is the primary location where community members may conduct discussions about concepts and governance.

ens token allocation


Early adopters who had previously registered an ENS domain name were airdropped the ENS token. Users had from November 8th, 2021, through May 4th, 2022, to make a claim for the tokens they were entitled to.

An airdrop distributed 25% of the total supply, with the remaining 75% being allocated as depicted in the pie chart below:

ENS DAO

The Ethereum Name Service is run by a decentralized autonomous organization in the spirit of decentralization (DAO). The ENS token owners who have the ability to submit proposals and vote on them in order to influence the protocol's future development run the DAO itself.

ENS Foundation

The ENS Foundation, a current Cayman Islands Foundation, is the official representative of the ENS DAO.

It serves a number of functions, including:

  • To satisfy tax obligations because, in the absence of a legal organization, DAO participants can be liable for a percentage of the DAO's profits, even if they don't have access to this money.
  • To sign agreements with other businesses.
  • To offer members in the DAO limited culpability for the DAO's actions.

Conclusion

ENS is a significant development in the cryptocurrency space and a move in the right direction to address some of the most important problems that plague the sector, specifically, user experience.

Errors are frequently caused by having to deal with lengthy sequences of random numbers and letters, and in the world of cryptography, errors are frequently very costly. A step toward enhancing the entire user experience is normalizing addresses and presenting them in a comprehensible and welcoming manner, much like DNS did for Internet users.

However, DNS records for domains and names are frequently kept on centralized servers, making them vulnerable to hacking. ENS, on the other hand, are multifaceted and more secure because they are protected by Ethereum's blockchain.


Disclaimer

The content is for informational purposes only, may include the author’s personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of TheDailyCryptoZ. All Financial investments, including crypto, carry significant risk, so always do your complete research before investing. Never invest money you cannot afford to lose; the author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your financial loss or gains.


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