The Ethereum name service is open to building its own layer 2: the ENS Director

The Ethereum name service is “heavily” focused on studying ways to build the protocol on Ethereum's layer-2 networks and may even consider starting an in-house layer 2, according to Corey Whittar, executive director of ENS.

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Whittaker was tight-lipped about the details of the research and development process, but said the ENS team is currently debating whether to build the integration on top of the existing Ethereum layer-2 network or release it internally. Beth calls L2 the “identification layer.”

“We're heavy on research and development in the way of Phase 2 applications, so I think you'll see some tangible results of that research this year.”

Whittaker noted that much of the conversation among ENS developers focused on tracking development on the Enlightenment.

He said that future L2 development could refer to the use of zero-knowledge proofs, which are a vital part of protecting user data on public blockchains.

Currently, ENS' biggest challenges stem from its structure as a protocol and its understanding within the Ethereum ecosystem, Whittar explained.

The Ethereum Name Service allows crypto users to purchase “.eth” domain names. This can replace the complex string of letters and numbers that typically includes a user's wallet address, making it easier to transfer and receive funds between parties on the Ethereum network.

Whittaker is telling Cointelegraph that ENS has partnered with domain name provider Goraddy to allow crypto users to link their .eth names (domains) to traditional Web2 domains – such as those ending in .com – at no cost.

We depend on builds and developers to build and then push to ENS. There's an awareness challenge that we have to overcome, which we're definitely working on — we need to be able to get into more major institutions like GoDaddy,” Whittar said.

Excited to announce our partnership with @GoDaddy.

Millions of customers can now use their DNS domains in the ENS ecosystem!

Let's dive into what this means pic.twitter.com/PyrZi4e5cV

— ens.eth (@ensdomains) February 5, 2024

Related: ENS Token Rises 70% As Vitalik Buterin Praises Platform As ‘Extremely Important'

“Crypto is still this strange place for most of the world, and all you hear about are these scandals, the price going up and down,” Whittar said. He said the partnership with GoDaddy will help the widespread use of blockchain technology as it allows everyday web users to “understand and discover it more easily”.

“I want to see a future where we're not talking about Web2 and Web3,” Whittar said. “It's just the Internet or it's just on the chain and all these technologies – they're going to fade into the background.”

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