9 ways protocols use ENS domains

ENS (Ethereum Name Service) is the most widely integrated domain name provider for blockchain addresses. But ENS does more than simplify our crypto addresses into names we can remember. Protocols actively demonstrate ENS's power beyond naming personal wallets. This article highlights a few protocols and their specific use of ENS domain names.

Farcaster is a social media protocol for building decentralized social networks. Part of their mission is to enable self-sovereign identity, or individual ownership. Users can utilize their own ENS names as social media handles. In addition, if a user has no ENS name, the protocol offers free offchain ENS domain names to get started. Farcaster's use of ENS names as social media handles empowers individuals to maintain control over their digital identities across various social media platforms.

Ever wondered if you'd be able to use your ENS domain to confirm an in-store payment? Gnosis Pay's self-custodial visa debit card links to your ENS name. It's the world's first onchain spending account linked to a blockchain wallet. Clients can engrave their ENS name on the card, and watch it appear on the POS (point of sale) system to confirm payment. By allowing users to link their ENS names to a debit card, Gnosis Pay not only enhances the usability of digital identities but also showcases the potential for blockchain technology to revolutionize how we manage and spend our digital assets within traditional financial systems. (Image Source: @libraryDefi)

Why choose between a traditional DNS domain vs an ENS domain when it's possible to have both? .box domains are tokenized DNS domains that combine blockchain decentralized ownership and transferability with the website hosting capabilities of a traditional DNS system. This dual functionality allows .box domain owners have the best of both worlds.

One significant barrier to worldwide adoption of ENS is cost. Registering an onchain ENS domain costs vary greatly depending on gas fees, often amounting to 20 dollars or more. Coinbase Wallet's impressive use of offchain ENS subdomains tackles this barrier. The company achieved over 4 million registrations of free offchain ENS subnames in just 1.5 years. In contrast, onchain ENS names, available for over six years, have under 3 million registrations. This rapid adoption of offchain subnames highlights the demand for cost-effective, user-friendly naming solutions within the crypto community. Other notable wallets are also providing their own offchain names for users, such as Obvious's obv.id and Uniswap's uni.eth.

Decentraland is a decentralized virtual reality platform built on the Ethereum blockchain, where users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications. Decentraland lets users register dcl.eth subnames and link them to in-game VR avatars. Registrations have surpassed 40,000 in number. Decentraland's dcl.eth subnames demonstrate ENS's potential to provide decentralized, permissionless identity solutions in virtual reality platforms .

ENS can also point to smart contracts. Chainlink, a decentralized oracle network, uses ENS to label smart contracts. For example, data.eth provides crypto price feeds like eth-usd.data.eth. In Chainlink's case, subdomains provide important visibility to transactions that may otherwise appear indecipherable.

Limo is a service that converts ENS names into URLs. By appending ".limo" to the end of a .eth domain, users can access decentralized websites. Limo facilitates easier access to decentralized content, a win for ENS domain holders who want to add decentralized website hosting capabilities to their name.

@fluidkeytakes onchain transaction privacy to another level. By using a new address attached to the same offchain key.eth domain name for every payment, linking onchain transactions to a particular individual becomes incredibly difficult. Fluidkey's unified dashboard further simplifies management of these stealth addresses by giving users the experience of dealing only with a single wallet. This use of offchain ENS subdomains is a significant step forward for privacy on the blockchain.

Let's not forget the power of ENS for simplifying swapping and bridging! OnThis, a provider of no-code tools for building onchain, does exactly this. Thanks to OnThis, users can move ETH from mainnet to base simply by sending it to toBase.eth. This improves the user experience by leveraging ENS for more intuitive and efficient cross-chain transactions.

These protocols collectively showcase the versatility and potential of ENS in enhancing user experience, security, and decentralized web integration. By learning more about how ENS is used by others, our community can continue to make ENS a standard practice on the blockchain.

NameStone is cofounded by Alex Slobodnik, who’s been working with ENS DAO since its beginning. Reach out to Alex on Twitter or Telegram to learn more about NameStone's powerful API and start issuing gasless subdomains today.