What is a ENS Domain?
Just like the regular internet domain names where you can buy a domain name for you or your company now you can buy an Ethereum domain name.
Why you want to do that?
For the same reason you bought domain names for websites.
You don't want to access your website with numericIPaddress instead you want a name like mywebsite.com.
You don't want to send money to 0x4bce....instead you want to send it to mywallet.eth
Once you get your ENS domain, you can also create sub domains.
What is the process?
Handing out new domains under the .eth top level domain is handled by an auction process that runs on the Ethereum blockchain. Anyone can participate.
What are the stages?
- First, you open an auction for a name you wish to buy, and places a bid. This starts a 3 day timer for other people to place bids on the name. During this period, the bids are hidden: nobody can tell how much you bid, or even what name you are bidding on.
- After the three day auction finishes, a two day “reveal” period begins. During this period, everyone who bid must reveal the details of their bid — if they don’t, they lose their entire bid. If your bid is not the highest, you are refunded your bid, less a percentage fee, which is burned.
- At the end of the two day reveal period, the winner is the person who revealed the highest bid, but they only have to pay the amount of the second-highest bidder. This amount is locked up in a contract for as long as the winning bidder retains control of the name. The winner must send a “finalize” transaction to receive a refund of any extra funds, and to be assigned control of the name in ENS.
Heading 3 What tools should I use?
- The official dapp registrar.ens.domains. Requires a blockchain-enabled browser (example: any browser with the Metamask plugin).
- My Ether Wallet, an open-source client-side solution that runs entirely in your browser.
- ETHTools’ ENS integration, a closed-source solution that walks you through the entire process, and uses server-side storage to facilitate easy bidding.
- Really adventurous users can bid using the command line, as explained in this document.