Ethereum Name Service Sees 200% Increase in New Registrations

The Ethereum Name Service recorded over 100,000 registrations in one week, according to a Google Analytics dashboard created by New Zealand ENS developer Nick Johnson.

The ENS dashboard shows a spectacular 200% increase in new registrations from 11,042 on July 2, 2022, to 29,727 on July 3, 2022.

The second-largest sale for a .eth domain name “000.eth” was completed for 300 ETH on July 3, 2022, sending the ENS daily revenue to around $684K. The daily revenue dropped on July 4, 2022, to approximately $619K as new sales piggy-backed off the excitement surrounding the $320K purchase. New registrations on July 4 totaled about 34,000.

So far this year, May has garnered the most registrations and revenue at 365,652 and 3899.7 ETH. June saw 122,000 new “.eth” registrations and 2500 ETH in revenue to ENS DAO, the decentralized autonomous organization behind ENS.

Ethereum domain names were first introduced to Web 3 in 2017. The ENS DAO celebrated its fifth anniversary on May 4, 2022.

ENS leads the Web3 domain market

Each domain name ending in “.eth” is a non-fungible token minted on the Ethereum blockchain. The “.eth” domain name can be used to access a decentralized website using a particular web browser like the Brave browser or another browser with a Metamask extension and as a crypto wallet address. Domain names can be traded on secondary marketplaces like OpenSea.

Interest in domain names started growing in April, fueled by the formation of social clubs for holders of specific categories of ENS domain names. The 10k Club was formed by owners of ENS domains 0-9999

Over 99% of domain name NFT volume on OpenSea in June 2022 was from ENS. Others domain name services include Unstoppable Domains and Decentraland Names.

How gas fees influence ENS activity

Like domain names on Web 2, ownership of “.eth” domain names is contingent upon paying a fee, denominated in USD, at regular intervals following the initial registration. There are 1.4 million active domain names on ENS. Renewing a domain name also incurs gas fees, and a high number of new registrations can come about due to low gas fees. Between July 2 and July 3, 2022, gas fees ranged from $1.673 to $1.971, the lowest levels reached in at least one year.

Higher gas fees can be mitigated by registering and paying up-front for multiple years. The gas fee to mint a multi-year domain name is the same for one domain name.