Business,Operations,GuideModule 4.3

Module 4.4

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) – Decentralized Naming

The Ethereum Naming Service (ENS) is often described as the Web3 equivalent of DNS (Domain Name System). It allows users to register human-readable names that resolve to Ethereum addresses (or other blockchain addresses, or metadata) For example, instead of telling someone your wallet address is 0xa657a18cAaFBdb58536B8Ce366A570CD3dbCAc61 (a 42-character hexadecimal string hard to remember or communicate), you could use a name like bittrees.eth. If someone enters bittrees.eth in their wallet’s send field, it will lookup the ENS registry and translate that to the actual Ethereum address behind the scenes, ensuring funds go to the correct address.

How ENS works: ENS names are like domains – you register them (usually for a yearly fee paid in ETH, the cost depends on name length and demand). The ENS is a smart contract system on Ethereum that maintains a mapping from names (e.g., example.eth) to records, which can include:

  • A cryptocurrency address (Ethereum, and also it can store Bitcoin, Dogecoin, etc addresses in sub-records).
  • Text records (e.g., an email or URL or Twitter handle for display).
  • Other information like content hashes if you use ENS for decentralized websites (e.g., pointing to IPFS content).

Once you own an ENS name, you can create subdomains at no additional cost, which you manage. For instance, Bittrees owns bittrees.eth, and we can create subdomains like research.bittrees.eth or capital.bittrees.eth and assign them to different addresses.

Bittrees use of ENS: we assign ENS names to our subDAOs and partner DAOs using bittrees.eth as our top-level domain. This helps us transparently manage our governance ecosystem, where assigned ENS names can function BOTH as a messaging method AND as the assignment of escrow accounts. For example:

  • They contrast it with the long hex address example. So certainly, using ENS makes internal transactions easier (you can send funds to agent.bittrees.eth instead of asking ‘agent’ for their address every time).
  • “Messaging method”: There are emerging services that use ENS for messaging (such as Ethermail or XMTP that allow sending messages to an ENS name which forwards to the account owner). Also, someone could send an on-chain message or an NFT to an ENS name. Bittrees envisions ENS names as a form of identity where you can both pay and communicate with a person using the same identifier.
  • ENS in email: There’s a service that maps ENS to actual email via a third party (e.g., agent.bittrees.eth could potentially receive emails if set up with ethmail or similar). So the idea is a unified identity.

In practice, for you as a new contributor: you might be asked to register an ENS name for yourself if you haven’t (or the company might provide a subdomain). Owning your personal ENS like yourname.eth is useful in the decentralized professional world (it’s like having a personalized domain/email). Bittrees could also give you a subdomain like yourname.advisor.bittrees.eth that points to your wallet, indicating your affiliation. This subdomain could represent your role too (e.g., opslead.bittrees.eth mapping to the wallet of whoever holds that role, and if the person changes, the ENS can be updated to the new address).

Cost and benefit: ENS names have an annual fee (e.g., a 5+ character .eth name might be $5/year in ETH, shorter names more expensive). It’s relatively low cost for the convenience and professionalism it adds. Many decentralized professionals use ENS as their digital business card. Within Bittrees, using ENS ensures fewer errors in sending funds and authenticating persons (since name.eth is easier to confirm than a long string) and it adds a layer of branding ("name".bittrees.eth signals the person’s connection to the organization).

To analogize, ENS names are like domain names or email addresses for your blockchain identity:

  • Instead of an IP address, you use a domain name (similarly, instead of a raw crypto address, use ENS).
  • Instead of a phone number, you use a contact name. It brings familiarity to an otherwise numeric system.

One can go to ens.domains (the official site) to search and register names. The process will require some ETH for the registration fee and gas. It’s straightforward, but always double-check you are on the official ENS app because, unfortunately, there have been phishing sites. The operations team might coordinate to ensure each member gets an ENS name and is configured properly.

Module 4.5 -- Layer 1 vs Layer 2 Networks