ENS: Ethereum Name Service - [Web3 Breakdowns, EP.04]

This is Eric Golden, and today I'm covering Ethereum Name Service, also known as ENS. In non-technical terms, a naming service allows you to map human-readable words to computer-based numbers. Listeners are likely familiar with Domain Name Services, DNS, which translates a website name such as joincolossus.com into an Internet Protocol address. ENS is similar, but instead of mapping to an IP address, domains are mapped to Ethereum addresses. When I bought my ENS address, I assumed the use case was to rename my wallet and make it easier than memorizing a bunch of random numbers. But as you will hear on this episode, the use case goes well beyond naming a wallet. To cover this wide-ranging topic, we called on a wide-ranging guest, Brantly Millegan, or better known as Brently.eth. We walk through the ENS backstory, why it seems to be winning over other blockchain-based naming services, and what the future may hold for ENS. There are some really interesting strategic points in this episode that listeners will appreciate. Please enjoy the conversation. 

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Show Notes

[00:02:37] - [First question] - Who he was before crypto and how he ended up there

[00:04:56] - How he found his way into the ENS space 

[00:05:40] - Overview of DNS and domain ownership as it exists today

[00:08:48] - The Zooko triangle and how naming currently works

[00:10:31] - Previous attempts at ENS and how they differ from its final form

[00:14:07] - Deciding to build a system on top of the existing naming infrastructure

[00:20:59] - What you’re buying when purchasing an ENS name

[00:23:28] - How many years you can own your ENS name

[00:24:16] - Are you renting the name or buying it

[00:25:11] - Domain squatting and how they handle it today in this emergent space

[00:30:25] - How much you can do with an ENS name

[00:31:53] - Can ENS names be used as wallet addresses

[00:33:18] - If he would have built it on a different blockchain if the project started today

[00:35:06] - Name collisions, country domains, and working with Ethiopia 

[00:40:53] - Whether or not there will be competitors in name services in the future

[00:42:29] - Funding the project with grants and the capital that built ENS

[00:46:47] - Forming their DAO and the responsibility of token ownership

[00:48:44] - Arriving at the formula to distribute tokens to name holders

[00:55:22] - Token holder influence over the project and internal voting

[00:57:16] - The difference between a protocol and a product

[00:58:23] - KYC, data privacy, and integrating ENS names for account logins

[01:05:41] - What subdomains are and where they could take the project

[01:07:36] - A future where everything on the planet is named and serialized

[01:09:46] - What he’s most focused on building over the next six months and next ten years

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