Active Twitter users would have come across handles such as temitope.eth, chukwu.eth and many others. With how proliferated this is, many are still confused about what it means and used for.
The advent of blockchain technology came with a combination of numerics, alphabets and symbols known as wallet addresses. A wallet address is a string of letters and numbers from which cryptocurrencies or NFTs can be sent and received. Basically, it is your unique trading address on the web.
These addresses, due to the set-up, look too abstract and technical, especially to newbies in the blockchain space. This problem led to the creation of what is known as ENS.
In this explainer, we are going to explore what Ethereum Name Service usernames are and why you should consider getting yours.
Let’s get to it.
What is the Ethereum Name Service?
Simply put, it is a name and lookup service built on the Ethereum blockchain.
ENS allows crypto users to translate machine-readable addresses to human-readable addresses. A sort of nickname generator for Ethereum wallet addresses, just to make crypto more accessible to the common people.
Think of this scenario, a friend of yours wants to send you some money in ether. To do so, you must send your Ethereum public address made up of 42 hexadecimal characters, which looks like this – ‘0x0806BD2dA9A4a4A767c1Ffe5add05b4B3DeAFcaA’.
The problem attached to the address above is that firstly, it is too long. Then it looks too technical for the common person.
With ENS, you can create a “nickname” for your wallet address. So instead of sending that complicated string of characters to your friend, you can have something like ‘Dami.eth’, which is connected automatically to your public address.
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Apart from Ethereum addresses, ENS also offers human-readable domains for other crypto wallets, websites, content hashes and metadata. Essentially, it aims to be your Web3 username that connects all your addresses and websites under a single name, for you to receive any type of cryptocurrency or NFTs via your ENS domain.
According to the ENS Documentation, the protocol calls it “a distributed, open, and extensible naming system” that offers decentralised, blockchain-secured domain naming and look-up services.
And, owing to its decentralised nature, ENS isn’t controlled by a central authority.
Why should you get an ENS username?
Owning an ENS domain allows you to have a simple and human-friendly username that will redirect to your long and complicated wallet address. So, instead of having to remember or constantly copy that long and boring address, you have a memory-friendly nickname instead.
This is somewhat similar to the DNS system of the traditional internet. When you type in “google.com”, under the surface it actually redirects you to a long and complicated IP address.
Ethereum Name Service shows the powerful potential of web3. Instead of having to create individual accounts and profiles with every website (thereby relinquishing your data and control over to a centralised entity), you instead own your profile and identity and it goes around the web with you.
How to get started
Registering an Ethereum Name Service username is quite straightforward, and all you need to do is have a wallet like MetaMask funded.
Go to app.ens.domains, the official website for registering an ENS username. Click on the “Connect” button on the top left and select your preferred wallet. When you’re connected, type in the name you’re trying to buy to see if it’s still available. If it is, you will see an estimate of what it costs including the current gas fee.
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You’ll be required to sign two transactions, one to request to register, and the other to actually register. Once you approve the ‘request to register’ transactions from your wallet, it will be submitted on the blockchain, and you’ll wait for it to be confirmed.
Once your transaction has been confirmed on the blockchain, you’ll be required to wait for one minute to ensure that someone else hasn’t tried to register that name within the same period. If this checks out, you’ll be able to initiate the second transaction by clicking ‘register’.
You’ll get another notification from your wallet to sign the transaction. This time, you’ll see the cost of the ENS name as well as the network fee. Once this transaction is confirmed, you now own the ENS name and will be able to see it as a collectible in your wallet.
Lastly, there is a process that will allow decentralised apps to recognise and display your address as your ENS name. To do this, click “My Account” on the bar to the left of the ENS homepage, and select the ENS name to that you want to set your address. In your case, it’s the one you just bought.
You’ll have to sign another transaction from your wallet to complete this process. Once it’s done, decentralised apps will be able to display your ENS name when you sign in with the address that it’s set to. You can also update your record and set other cryptocurrency addresses to link to your ENS name and set text records such as your Twitter profile or public website.
Lastly
ENS is an important innovation in the cryptocurrency space. It is also a step towards solving the technicalities attached to blockchain technology. In view of that, ENS usernames are expected to subsequently become more widespread.
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