The Ethereum Name Service Auction Live - Decentralized Ethereum domains - Read how to bid for your .eth domain here
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) brings a secure and decentralized way to address accounts on the blockchain using simple, human-readable names.
No more typing long addresses
The ENS system will eliminate the need to copy or type long Ethereum addresses. With this system you will be able to send ETH to your friend at 'johnstevens.eth' instead of '0x2cb43bde429b3f34g...' or use your favorite contract at 'favcontract.eth'. A site hosted on the Ethereum Swarm network would be shown at 'swarmwebsite.eth'.
Secure and Decenteralized
The ENS system is built on smart contracts in the Ethereum blockchain. This allows it to avoid the insecurities of the current DNS system. ENS operates in a decentralised environment free from centralized infrastructure or governance. Anyone can register a .eth domain by using the auction mediated by the Ethereum network.
Registering Names
Today you can participate in the automated auction with the registrar dapp: http://registrar.ens.domains
Instructions are made clear at the above app.
Names are not available all at once. Enter the name you are interested in at the dapp shown above to see when you can bid. All names will become available during an 8-week period.
Check out https://ens.codetract.io to see the auction happening in real time. The twitter bot: https://twitter.com/EnsBot will show you auctions in real time. Etherscan has a page to view auctions as well: https://etherscan.io/ens
Future of ENS
This registrar is designed to be an interim step in ENS's long-term development, to enable a fair and straightforward process in ENS's initial formation, and to provide an opportunity for the community to develop experience and insight into the operation of a decentralised name registry.
The goal is to replace this interim registrar with a permanent one, which has a target date of two years after launch of this initial registrar. The intervening period will give the community an opportunity to observe the interim registrar in operation, and to submit proposals for a permanent registrar via the EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) standardisation process. The accepted proposal will be implemented and deployed to replace the interim registrar. We expect the proposal to provide a fair process for transferring names registered with the initial registrar to the permanent registrar.
Read more about Ethereum here: Why Consensus: the tale of two Ethereums - an opinion on Ethereum and Ethereum Classic
Ah ha, here you go again with excellent simplifications...
I'd wondered about the "Ethereum Name Service," did a brief search on it while writing that other piece on domains - though skimmed over too fast as it seemed like the naming part applied more to an Ethereum address, not as though it could be used for domain as well.
Thanks for this - answered the questions I had about it that weren't obvious upfront elsewhere. 👍
https://golos.io/bitcoin/@matrixdweller/a-few-reasons-why-you-should-consider