The next big thing: ENS domains
There is an exciting project getting a lot of traction in the ecosystem - like Domain Name Systems (DNS), but on Ethereum (ENS).Â
For those who don’t know, DNS is a naming system for computers and the internet.
How a webpage address looks like with and without a DNS:
Without: 70.42.251.42
With: howstuffworks.com
As you can see, it plays a critical role in making the internet a lot easier to use.
How a cryptocurrency address looks like with and without an ENS:
Without: 0x0d4ed03afe21b22c34340a13134c276da2255bbe
With: edgar.eth
Additionally, before you needed a separate wallet for each cryptocurrency. Now, I can use edgar.eth to receive Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Binance coin, and many more;Â one human-readable address for many different cryptocurrencies.Â
I can’t emphasize this enough, but ENS is a vitally needed breakthrough to make cryptocurrencies more comfortable to use.
This is not just about crypto payments; it’s about how the internet works
Before, the only way for you to accept money through your webpage was if you got an approval of a 3rd party company. Finally, with programmable money and ENS, this has changed.Â
Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z, on this topic:
The original sin of the internet is payments not being incorporated into the browser.
Because of this, the internet today is based predominantly on advertising, the downstream of advertising is everything else people are anxious and worked up about (privacy, data collection, misalignment of incentives, etc.)
If crypto/blockchain were around in the early internet days, it would have been much easier to incorporate financial transactions into the internet browser.
This would have (potentially) allowed for the creation of superior economic models (compared to advertising).
I do not doubt that in the next 5-10 years, this will change the internet more than we can imagine.
You can register your domain name here: https://ens.domains
If you need any help setting it up, feel free to reach out.
-Edgar