What is Ethereum Name Service?

The purpose of Ethereum Name Service is to make the Ethereum ecosystem more user-friendly and accessible to everyone. ENS aims to solve the problem of having to use long, complex Ethereum addresses to interact with the blockchain. By providing a decentralized domain name system, ENS enables users to create human-readable names that can be used to send and receive cryptocurrency, interact with decentralized applications (dApps), and access decentralized websites. The potential use cases and applications of ENS include simplifying cryptocurrency transactions, creating decentralized websites, and building Web3 identities.

Ethereum Name Service operates on the Ethereum blockchain, utilizing smart contracts to link Ethereum addresses to easy-to-remember names. The protocol uses a multi-signature system that governs key operations, and the ENS team consists of nine members, including prominent figures like Sergey Nazarov (Chainlink) and Dan Finlay (MetaMask). ENS is built on two smart contracts: the ENS registry, which records every ENS domain, its owner, and other essential information, and the resolver, which translates names into addresses and vice versa.

Ethereum Name Service differentiates itself from competitors by being the first project to bring the Domain Name System (DNS) concept to the decentralized Web3 ecosystem. ENS is built on the Ethereum blockchain, utilizing smart contracts to eliminate central points of failure and ensure censorship resistance. Compared to traditional DNS, ENS is completely decentralized, running on the Ethereum blockchain, making it more secure and resistant to censorship or single points of failure.