Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin praised the decentralized domain name system (ENS) as being “very important” in a post on January 3. Many investors believed that Vitalik’s endorsement was a clear signal for ENS, but is it really that simple? What is Vitalik’s true intention?
Contrary to popular belief, Vitalik’s retweet of ENS’ Layer 2 data resolution solution is not just a public endorsement. By analyzing the integration method provided by ensdomains, we can understand Vitalik’s intention: to further reduce Ethereum’s control over Layer 2.
Why? Let’s analyze the reasons:
ENS domain name service defines an interactive logic where users only need to enter a short domain name to automatically connect to the corresponding associated long address of the ENS smart contract, solving the pain point of complex and difficult-to-remember EOA addresses.
It can be said that ENS’ domain name service is more geared towards the future expansion of the user traffic in the extension market, especially for some mass adoption user groups. Layer 2 is the future of Ethereum’s extension and its ability to absorb large traffic. If ENS’ domain resolution solution cannot cover Layer 2 and only stays at the Ethereum mainnet level, it will be difficult to imagine its potential.
Based on this background, ENS naturally considers providing a complete set of data resolution solutions for Layer 2, allowing users to directly perform domain name resolution and data queries on Layer 2, reducing their reliance on centralized gateways of each Layer 2.
In short, this solution allows users to use ENS domain names in a permissionless and decentralized manner on various Layer 2s. So how is it done?
ENS has designed a “layer bridge” with interopeablity and interactive communication capabilities, allowing each Layer 2 to retrieve and verify domain name data from the off-chain environment of the Ethereum mainnet. Through this bridging mechanism, the domain name data resolution functionality of each Layer 2 and the mainnet is connected, making it safe to use ENS short domain names on Layer 2.
The document mentions EIP3668, which ensures that domain names used on Layer 2 chains can be correctly verified by the mainnet smart contracts, avoiding domain name misuse. EIP5599 relaxes the original requirement of domain name resolution having to interact with the ENS smart contract, allowing the resolution task to be delegated to external systems (Rollup contracts), greatly enhancing the concurrent processing capability of domain name resolution.
It is not difficult to see that for users to use ENS domain names normally on Layer 2, it is necessary to call and verify the global data on the Ethereum mainnet. This means that to enjoy this service, one must adopt the orthodox Ethereum Data Availability capability, and Layer 2s that take shortcuts by relying on OP Stack and placing DA on third-party DA platforms like Celestia are not compatible with ENS.
With this in mind, it is not difficult to understand Vitalik’s intentions. I have analyzed in several articles before that Layer 2 will definitely experience a major outbreak after the London upgrade, and various types of Layer 2 will emerge like mushrooms. The modular thinking and the services provided by various Stack components are breaking the boundaries between the mainnet providing DA and Layer 2 providing extension modules.
Because only DA data exists on the Ethereum mainnet, Ethereum validators can control the “security” of Layer 2 assets. If validators lose their verification control, Ethereum will become a “bulletin board” for the results released by Layer 2, and the dependence of Layer 2 chains on Ethereum will weaken. To a certain extent, it is unknown whether these Layer 2 platforms are willing to serve as Ethereum’s Layer 2. Therefore, Vitalik will do everything possible to steer the development trajectory of Layer 2 towards the orthodox Ethereum path.
In summary, ENS is considered by Vitalik as the most successful non-financial application on Ethereum. In addition to this, ENS can indeed bring a user-friendly experience to the blockchain after mass adoption, which aligns with the goal of expanding the web3 community on Layer 2.
To put it simply, using ENS to establish a set of interactive operability standards for various Layer 2 platforms, while consolidating DA control, is a brilliant move!
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