vitalik.eth
@VitalikButerin
It's a good decision!
ENS names and records are a form of state that is central to the Ethereum ecosystem, the state is limited in size and there is high value in it being as accessible as possible from anywhere.
It's also a semi-financial application, in the sense that buying and holding ENS names has a cost, and ENS names can become very valuable objects.
With the expanded scaling roadmap, Ethereum L1 is the ideal place for these applications.
More generally, I expect that the optimal architecture for decentralized identity and social (the general space I see ENS being in) is to have this kind of per-user account and profile data on L1, and to have special-purpose L2s, likely much simpler than full EVMs, to handle user actions (eg. actions on social platforms).
@katherineykwu
A quick update on ENSv2: we have made the decision to deploy ENSv2 exclusively on Ethereum L1 and to cease development of Namechain.
To be clear, ENSv2 will still ship. The only thing that’s changed is that instead of deploying ENSv2 on our own L2 stack, it will be deployed on L1.
It is important to note that ENSv2 is ultimately an upgrade to ENS as it exists today — it’s still ENS! Regardless of where it ultimately gets deployed, it does not fundamentally change ENS the protocol nor does it change any part of our mission and ultimate goal of building the identity layer on Ethereum. The design for ENSv2 was always intended to work fully as designed, whether deployed on L1 or L2. Our product roadmap does not change.
We have detailed progress on the ENSv2 Hub to show what exactly v2 will mean for you, and what the team has been building: giving each name its own registry (making your .eth names more powerful and customizable to your own rules!), building two brand new apps from the ground up (both deployed to testnet this week), and much more. I am so excited for this release (soon!) and think it will completely change the way you interact with your own ENS names.
The timing of this decision coincides with a broader discussion about the role of L2s in Ethereum. I continue to believe that L2s play a vital role in extending the value of the world computer that is Ethereum, and ENS will continue to support as many chains as possible. In fact, very soon anyone will be able to register a .eth name regardless of which EVM chain they are on — meaning that even if your assets live on Optimism or Arbitrum, it’s a one-click process (no bridge, no gas tokens). We also continue to believe in a multi-chain world beyond EVM chains (a reminder that ENS has and always will support your addresses across major chains like Solana, Bitcoin, and more).
We have published the detailed rationale for the decision to stay on L1 on our blog, and I encourage you to read it (in the QT here!)
The .eth stays on 🫡