ENS Domains: What’s In A Name?

The ENS is an open-source protocol that associates domain names with Ethereum addresses and many other supported blockchains

Hi, folks. Sherpa here again with another dip into NFTs. This time I’ll be covering ENS domains, which are a mintable, non-fungible readable name on the Ethereum blockchain. Here’s how the docs define what an ENS domain is:

The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is a distributed, open, and extensible naming system based on the Ethereum blockchain. ENS’s job is to map human-readable names like ‘alice.eth’ to machine-readable identifiers such as Ethereum addresses, other cryptocurrency addresses, content hashes, and metadata.

Related: Fundamental Analysis – Part Three – The NFT One

What this basically means is that you can tie a name, like using a standard domain name service, to: your address, your pinned IPFS content’s hash, or associated metadata as you’d see with other NFTs. You can also just make funny names & see if anyone wants to buy them – your creativity is the limit, really.

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I like that you have the ability to create your own value, or perception of value, if you can think of a unique or valuable enough name. That said, how do you do it?

Minting ENS Domains

It’s actually super easy, assuming you have Metamask or another web3-compatible wallet. You just visit the ENS website, click “launch app” in the top-right corner, connect your wallet & start searching for your new domain name.

Then you’ll get to a screen telling you a bit about the multi-step process, and estimating how much it will cost.

PLEASE NOTE: You want to be very sure to check ETH Gas Station before proceeding, because as you can see in the picture below – this can be a very “heavy” process in terms of gas, especially during periods of network congestion.

For the rest of the steps, just read the instructions above carefully & proceed when gas is relatively low. As you can see in step #2, there is a one minute waiting period just in case someone else decides to register the exact same name at the exact same time.

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Your ENS Domain is an NFT

When you’re done, your new domain should show up within a few minutes in your wallet, and shortly after that it should be tradeable on OpenSea – if you want to try & sell it rather than using it. If you’d rather use it, however, just go over to the “My Account” link on the side of the page, and you’ll need to set the “reverse record” so that your long address resolves as your readable ENS domain name.

And, you’re set! You now have a new identity for your wallet or assets, or you have a fresh new tradeable asset that you personally gave value to (or not) by being a little creative. It doesn’t get much easier than that, folks.

Until next time, this has been Sherpa for Wendy’s Whitepaper. As always, DYOR & HFSP.

Related: Amateur’s Guide To Aping NFTs – Part One

Related: Amateur’s Guide To Aping NFTs – Part Two