ENS Labs, the company that launched Ethereum Name Services (ENS) in 2017, is preparing for the next major project. By the second half of 2025, they plan to launch a layer 2 blockchain network called Namechain based on the Ethereum blockchain. NameChain will use zero-knowledge summary technology to improve transaction efficiency, reduce costs and processing time. In the ENS domain ecosystem, simpler names with “XYZ.ETH” (such as “asd1as.eth”) often have more value.
According to the report, NameChain’s release is intended to simplify blockchain identity and make it more direct and user-friendly. The layer 2 blockchain not only simplifies the process of ENS registration, but also hopes that the network makes it easier for users to access the service.
This week, ENS Labs officially announced Namechain. “By greatly reducing costs, improving performance and providing the experience of familiar Ethereum developers, our hope is to unlock new opportunities for ENS and Ethereum,” Ens said in a post on X on X.
Announce live broadcast #Frensday:microphone:
Namechain by @ensdomains a dedicated layer 2 solution!
This is the next evolution of part of the ENS and larger ENSV2 directions. By greatly reducing costs, improving performance and providing us with familiar Ethereum developer experiences with our… pic.twitter.com/biwha22vjl
– ens.eth (@ensdomains) November 11, 2024
ENS Labs has allocated an initial budget of US$4 million (approximately Rs 33 crore) in USDC Stablecoin to support the development of Namechain and is funded by ENS DAO, which oversees the ENS protocol. However, the complete budget required to test and deploy this Layer 2 network has not been disclosed.
ENS Labs’ latest initiative follows its Ethereum Name Service Popularity (ENS). ENS is a decentralized domain name protocol that simplifies complex Ethereum wallet addresses, converting them into easy-to-read names such as “abc.eth”, making crypto transactions easier to access and user-friendly.
In July 2022, ENS Tracker Dune Analytics reported that daily ENS registrations surged significantly, reaching more than 50,000 new addresses that month. In the same year, Nike’s Web3 arm was called “RTFKT” and obtained ten ENS domains.
It is worth noting that, according to a report from CoinMarketCap, registration of ENS domains fell 22.9% in September this year. The report also notes that ENS is a key component of the Web3 ecosystem, with the total number of active domains currently exceeding 1.9 million.
In October, Google completed the integration of ENS on its search engine. This development is intended to make it easier for one to represent any name based on the ENS domain based on “.ETH”.
