As the Ethereum merge approaches, ethereum name service (ENS) registration has surged.
More than 1.8 million Ethereum Name Service domains have been registered, with 3,78,000 new .eth being registered in July.
This increase is attributed to the merge that is supposed to happen next month.
The merge will change from a proof-of-work consensus algorithm to proof-of-stake and will switch the top blockchain for Dapps, DAO and NFTs.
However, according to Khori Whittaker, Executive Director of True Names Limited, the company behind ENS Domains, the surge is rather organic.
He said, “we would not see the surge in registrations without the efforts of the independent developers in the ecosystem creating marketplaces and other ENS-related apps and groups like the “999 club,” the “10k club,” the “TLC” club and the “100k club,” among others.”
Another reason for the surge is the reduction in gas fees for Ethereum transactions.
Additionally, there has been an increase in the adoption of ENS by non-English speaking communities like Arabic and Spanish speaking communities.
What is Ethereum Name Service (ENS)?
Ethereum name service is a distributed, open and extendable naming system created on the Ethereum blockchain.
The function of ENS is to convert human-readable names, such as “blockchain. eth,” into names that computers can read, including Ethereum addresses, content hashes and metadata.
These domain names can also be sold as non-fungible tokens providing proof of ownership.
Another use of ENS is that it can be used to link cryptocurrency wallets. Therefore, a user can provide the .eth domain name and receive the transactions.
It has become so famous that prominent personalities have started putting .eth to their names.
Big names like Jimmy Falon, Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton and Anthony Hopkins have jumped on the bandwagon to have their own ENS.
Afterword
The active ecosystem of ENS advocates has led people to adopt ENS domains organically. Word of mouth and existence of sub-communitites have added to its popularity.
As pointed out by Whittaker, there are many fun and exciting web3 projects, and ENS is one of them.
