When the Internet first became popular, one of the main issues consumers encountered was the mismatch between domain names and internet protocol (IP) addresses.
As a result, they were quite hostile to the typical person who had to physically key in the IP address of the website they wished to view.
Cryptocurrency addresses are much longer strings of digits and letters than conventional IP addresses. A user must input the address and double-check that all of the numbers and letters are spelled correctly if they want to send money to another user across the Ethereum network.
It’s also crucial to understand how harsh block chain-based technology is in this regard. This is due to the fact that if you insert an incorrect address or a letter, the money you send would be permanently gone. Since there is no centralized organization to get in touch with to cancel or refund the transaction, the money is lost.
And the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) was created in a similar manner to how Domain Name Services (DNS) were created when using the Internet.
What Is the Ethereum Name Service? How ENS Works and what it’s used for
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) was inspired by a technical problem that the US military faced when creating the foundation of the internet.
One of the biggest issues computer scientists encountered in the early days of the internet was that domain names and internet protocol addresses were mismatched, rendering them inaccessible to the common user.
That meant that in order to access a website, you would need to enter its full IP address, such as 54.235.191.121, in the address bar. It was challenging to explore the web since IP addresses are essentially long, difficult-to-remember strings of digits and dots.
However, Paul Mockapetris, an American computer scientist, created the Domain Name System (DNS) in 1983 after Elizabeth Feeler, an American scientist, conducted ground-breaking research in the 1970s.
The DNS pairs human-friendly domain names with IP addresses. For instance, entering coindesk.com into your search bar will take you to the website instead of typing 54.235.191.121.
Despite all the technological innovation taking place in the cryptocurrency industry, the majority of cryptocurrencies still operate on a framework akin to the traditional IP address setup.
Instead of using something more amiable like the wallet owner’s name, you must provide that person’s wallet address if you wish to send bitcoin to their address.
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) can help with that.
What is ENS (Ethereum Name Service) and how does it work?
Since the cryptocurrency industry is quite sophisticated, it may be difficult for beginners and those who lack technical expertise to get started.
Consider cryptographic transactions. You need a lengthy public wallet address made up of a string of alphabetic and numeric characters that resembles gibberish in order to send a cryptocurrency payment. Additionally, users’ public addresses varies for each cryptocurrency, making it challenging for newcomers to handle and confusing.
By enabling users to create a single pseudonym for all of their public addresses and decentralized websites, ENS, or Ethereum Name Service, intends to simplify the crypto and decentralized finance spaces.
Registry
The registry is made up of a smart contract that stores three crucial pieces of information about each domain and subdomain as well as a list of all of them. These are the items:
- The website’s owner
- The domain’s resolver
- The total records within the domain’s caching time-to-live
The ENS registry’s goal is to link a name to the resolver in charge of it, which is a pretty simple goal. Owners of domains registered with the ENS registry are permitted to:
- Change the subdomains’ ownership
- Transfer domain ownership to a different address
- Set the domain’s resolver and time-to-live (TTL)
Resolvers
On the other side, resolvers are in charge of the conversion of names into addresses. Any contract that complies with the necessary requirements can function as a resolver in the Ethereum Name Service. However, there are two processes involved in resolving a name in ENS.
The first step is to find out from the registry which resolver is in charge of the given name. The second step entails requesting the response to the query from that specific resolver.
Register and Manage .eth Domains with ENS
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS), sometimes referred to as a domain service, assigns a user-specific domain linked to the account address of your wallet.
The format for ENS domains is Your Domain Here.eth. The purpose of this is to make the typical public address simpler so that it is simpler to use and send to other people. There are other use cases as well, but for now, this is the major justification for the service.
Our MEW donation address is a simple illustration of this:
0xDECAF9CD2367cdbb726E904cD6397eDFcAe6068D is the standard donation address.
Mewtopia.eth is the address for donations.
The identical wallet is accessible from both of these addresses, however the ENS domain is considerably more practical.
Conclusion
ENS is a significant development in the cryptocurrency space and a move in the right direction to address some of the most important problems that plague the sector, specifically, user experience.
Errors are frequently caused by having to deal with lengthy sequences of random numbers and letters, and in the world of cryptography, errors are frequently very costly. A step toward enhancing the entire user experience is normalizing addresses and presenting them in a comprehensible and welcoming manner, much like DNS did for Internet users.
However, DNS records for domains and names are frequently kept on centralized servers, making them vulnerable to hacking. ENS, on the other hand, are multifaceted and more secure because they are protected by Ethereum’s block chain.
Having said that, there is no doubt that the Ethereum Name Service is a crucial innovation that has swiftly gained popularity and is utilized by thousands of individuals.
