The next NFT craze? Rare ENS domain names become "new favorites"

This article comes fromDecrypt, original author: Kate Irwin

Odaily Translator | Nian Yin Si Tang

This article comes from

, original author: Kate Irwin

Odaily Translator | Nian Yin Si Tang

Ethereum domain name service NFT sales on OpenSea have soared nearly 2,300% in the past week, as users scrambled to buy very rare three- and four-digit domain names.

The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is the domain name provider for the Ethereum blockchain, controlled by a DAO that uses governance tokens to make collective decisions. It is closely related to the Ethereum Foundation and has been around since 2017.

This week, Ethereum users began betting on the future value of three- and four-digit ENS names. ENS domain names end in ".eth", each of which is an NFT that is minted and sold just like regular NFTs.The ENS domain is touted by its proponents as the future of decentralized, censorship-resistant websites, and a potentially universal login for all things Web3. Today, ENS names are most commonly used as simple, readable replacements for traditional Ethereum wallet addresses, which tend to consist of 42 hexadecimal characters.Many celebrities and public figures are currently using their ENS domains as Twitter usernames, such as Jimmy Fallon (fallon.eth), Paris Hilton (parishilton.eth), Trey Songz (treysongz.eth), Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong ( barmstrong.eth) and Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin (Vitalik.eth), etc.

It is worth noting that Vitalik Buterin (V God) had two years ago on Twitter

mentioned

The value of the three and four letter ENS domain name.

"They're fixed-supply assets, and you can do anything with them!" he said at the time.

Since the minimum number of digits in an ENS domain name is 3 digits, sales of 3- and 4-digit domain names suddenly increased significantly. Alisha.eth, head of the ENS community, pointed out that on Tuesday, the secondary sale of ENS NFT on OpenSea reached a staggering 446 Ethereum (about $1.3 million).data"As an observer, I feel like I missed it in the blink of an eye," she said of the recent surge in sales yesterday on a Twitter Space hosted by ENS.

According to nick.eth, lead developer of ENSdataOver the past week, domain registrations at ENS

increased by 119%

, the total number of active .eth domains also increased by 7%.

image description

ENS recent income, source: nick.eth

But this domain name craze is not the same as it was in the 1990s. Many users today are interested in numeric ENS names, such as 123.eth. Many three-digit ENS domains sell for over 6 ETH each, or about $17,000, such as 792.eth, 645.eth, and 981.eth.

Some people buy with the corresponding amount according to the number contained in the ENS domain name itself, such as buying 887.eth with 8.87 ETH, which is worth close to $26,000. Coincidentally, the domain name 555.eth was sold yesterday for 55.5 ETH, and the transaction price was as high as $160,000.

As for why some people are willing to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a domain name that might remind others of being a prisoner or living in an Orwellian dystopian world, the NFT community has some ideas.

“If your Punk avatar is #4000, you want 4000.eth,” said tommygun.eth on a Twitter Space hosted by ENS advisor 2594.eth.

In fact, the vast majority of NFT PFP collectibles are numbered, especially those blue-chip NFT projects such as Bored Apes, Azuki, Clone X, and Moonbirds.

tommygun.eth also shared that he owns a number of 3- and 4-digit ENS names — although an Ethereum wallet can only have one primary ENS name registered at any given time.

"My idea is to sell some of them and lease out most of the ENS domain names." 1289.eth said. He envisions a four to five year future timeline for his ENS domain name.