ENS is an abbreviation for Ethereum Name Service. In its simplest terms, ENS is a decentralized, open-sourced, and permissible naming system built on the Ethereum network.
ENS’ primary role is mapping easy-to-remember domain names like Josiah.eth to computer-readable identifiers like 0xGk3…w84KQ. Since ENS supports the reverse resolution mechanism (mapping a crypto address to an ENS name), you can link metadata like your Twitter profile with your ENS domain. Moreover, you can buy or sell ENS domains as an NFT on marketplaces like OpenSea.
Read more: What is Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and How Does It Work?
Let’s take a look at the top 5 ENS categories and the 3 most expensive ENS domains in existence.
Top 5 ENS Categories
There are different categories of ENS domains, primarily based on the number of characters. Apparently, names with four or fewer characters are the most popular because of their scarcity. Domain owners are forming communities based on shared ownership, such as the 10k Club for individuals who own 0000-9999 domains. Below are the top five most popular ENS categories.
10k Club
The 10k Club comprises members with a four-character ENS name ranging from 0000-9999. In other words, this Club is made of domain owners interested in trading the first 10,000 characters on ENS. As of 2023, this is the top category, with over 44.2K ETH in total volume traded, with a floor price of 0.45 ETH.
999 Club
The 999 Club is for ENS domain owners with three characters (from 000-999). It comes in second with a total volume of 15.7K ETH, and a considerably higher floor price of 8.5 ETH.
100k Club
Following the 999 Club is another number focused club: the 100k Club, where domain owners own names with 5 digits (00000-99999). It has a total volume of 6.34K ETH, but a lower floor price of 0.009 ETH.
3 Letters
This category consists of holders of three-letter domains. It has a total volume of 4.98K ETH, and a top sale record of 100 ETH for sam.eth.
As the Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated on Twitter, three and four-letter domains are fixed-supply assets with utility, thus high demand.
Three and four-letter ENS names: they're a fixed-supply asset *and* you can do things with them!
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 7, 2020
Pre-Punk Club
This is a newer category, which consists of names minted before Crypto Punks. The Pre-Punk clubs are growing in popularity when it comes to 24 hour trading volume, and the Pre-Punk Club tops these with a total volume of 3.4K ETH, and a top sale of 420 ETH for paradigm.eth.
Bonus: 3 Most Expensive ENS Domains
The most expensive ENS domain sold so far is paradigm.eth, which was auctioned for 420 ETH in October 2021! It fetched roughly $1.5 million. Despite the name being closely associated with the crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, the company denied making the purchase.
On 4 July 2022, 000.eth domain was auctioned for 300 ETH, approximately $315,000, making it the second most expensive ENS domain in history. On-chain data from OpenSea shows that the domain was auctioned by a user going by the name EtherOS who had acquired it in June 2020. 000.eth domain was initially listed for 100 ETH in September 2021 ($300,000).
So far, the third most expensive domain name is porno.eth, which was sold for 184 ETH or over $202,000 on June 29 2022.
The Future of ENS
The crypto community believes ENS’ popularity will continue to eat into global blockchain identities for brands and businesses. ENS domains in other languages, like Chinese, Arabic, Swahili, French, etc. will become more dominant.
ENS streamlines the payment process for companies. For example, AMC Theaters can leverage ENS in purchasing event tickets. The company can replace its long crypto addresses with ENS domains such as gamestop.eth. Such domains are easy-to-remember, therefore customers won’t have to copy and paste addresses for every time they make payments.
If you enjoyed this article, check out the 9 steps to buy your own ENS domain name!
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