Ethereum Name Service (ENS)

ENS names work as a readable alias for a wallet address, so someone can type "alice.eth" instead of copying a 42-character string of hexadecimal characters. The system runs as a set of smart contracts on Ethereum: a registry tracks who owns each name, and separate resolver contracts store the records, such as an address, avatar, or social handle, that the name points to. Anyone can register an available .eth name for a chosen period and renew it before it expires.

Because every registered name is minted as an ERC-721 NFT, ownership is transparent and transferable: names can be sold on NFT marketplaces or simply held in a wallet like any other token. ENS also supports reverse resolution, looking up a name from an address, and subdomains, so a project can hand out free names such as "team.company.eth" to employees or community members without registering each one separately.

The naming system has grown beyond a convenience for payments. Records can store IPFS or Swarm content hashes, letting a name resolve to a fully decentralized website, and resolvers can also point to addresses on dozens of other blockchains, not just Ethereum. In early 2026, ENS Labs scrapped its planned "Namechain" Layer 2 and committed to keeping the core protocol on Ethereum mainnet, citing sharply lower gas costs after Ethereum raised its block gas limit, while support for names issued on other chains continues in parallel. Governance runs through ENS DAO, whose ENS token holders vote on pricing, upgrades, and treasury spending.