ENSv2 Stays on Ethereum Mainnet, Drops Namechain Plan

TheNewsCryptoPublished on 2026-02-07Last updated on 2026-02-07

Abstract

In a strategic shift, the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) has announced that its next-generation protocol, ENSv2, will remain on the Ethereum Layer-1 mainnet, abandoning previous plans to build its own Layer-2 network called Namechain. The decision, shared by ENS co-founder Nick Johnson, is due to Ethereum's rapid scaling progress, which has already led to a 99% reduction in ENS registration gas costs over the past year. Johnson emphasized that staying on L1 aligns ENS with Ethereum's strong infrastructure guarantees and ensures faster, smoother performance for users. ENSv2 will still introduce upgrades such as hierarchical registries and expanded multi-chain support. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin endorsed the move, stating that ENS is a critical on-chain asset and semi-financial application that belongs on Ethereum L1. The broader development roadmap for ENS remains unchanged.

In a significant strategic shift, the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) has announced that its next-generation protocol, ENSv2, will stayon Ethereum’s Layer-1 mainchain, dropping previous plans of building its own Layer-2 network, Namechain, according to a blog post by ENS co-founder Nick Johnson on February 6.

ENSv2 is the Ethereum Name Service’s upcoming major upgrade, intended to expand ENS capabilities to a Layer-2 network, providing users with lower fees and faster transactions than the Ethereum mainnet, as well as to provide structural modifications such as hierarchical registries, which give name owners more power and support for numerous chains.

Why ENS Dropped Its Layer-2 Plans

Johnson wrote, “ Ethereum is scaling faster than almost anyone predicted two years ago; we’ve seen a 99% reduction in ENS registration gas costs over the past year, coinciding with Ethereum’s gas limit increases from 30M to 60M in 2025. By staying on L1, we’re aligning ENS with the strongest possible infrastructure guarantees, Ethereum itself.”

As Johnson mentioned, ENSv2 will still be released as planned, and halting work on Namechain will not affect the company’s broader roadmap. By having everything on one blockchain rather than two, he expects names to load faster and run more smoothly for users. Also, Johnson noted that the majority of the improvements made to make ENS easier to use over the last two years will stay in place.

Further, ENS Labs COO Katherine Wu shared a post via her X handle, “It is important to note that ENSv2 is ultimately an upgrade to ENS as it exists today — it’s still ENS! Regardless of where it ultimately gets deployed,” and highlighted new features such as individual registries for each ENS name and new apps currently in testing.

Vitalik Backs ENSv2’s Ethereum L1 Move

Vitalik Buterin supported the ENS labs decision by saying, “It’s a good decision!” As he noted that ENS names and records represent a critical on-chain state for the Ethereum ecosystem, should remain easily accessible from anywhere.

Further, he added, “It’s also a semi-financial application, in the sense that buying and holding ENS names has a cost, and ENS names can become very valuable objects. With the expanded scaling roadmap, Ethereum L1 is the ideal place for these applications.”

Highlighted Crypto News:

Shiba Inu Eyes Recovery as Bitcoin Rebounds Above $60K

TagsENSETHEREUM

Trending Cryptos

ctr
CitreaCTR
wstusdt
wrapped stUSDTWSTUSDT
apr
aPrioriAPR
ctx
Cryptex FinanceCTX
audio
AudiusAUDIO
comp
CompoundCOMP
mantra
MantraMANTRA
waxl
AxelarWAXL
bill
Billions NetworkBILL
pyth
PYTH (Pyth)PYTH
rune
THORChainRUNE
velodrome
Velodrome FinanceVELODROME
brev
BrevisBREV
zrx
ZRX（0X）ZRX
cake
PancakeSwapCAKE

Related Questions

QWhat is the main strategic shift announced by ENS regarding ENSv2?

AENS has announced that ENSv2 will remain on Ethereum's Layer-1 mainnet, abandoning previous plans to build its own Layer-2 network called Namechain.

QAccording to Nick Johnson, why did ENS decide to keep ENSv2 on Ethereum L1?

ANick Johnson stated that Ethereum is scaling faster than predicted, with a 99% reduction in ENS registration gas costs and an increased gas limit. By staying on L1, ENS aligns with Ethereum's strong infrastructure guarantees.

QWhat are some key features that ENSv2 is intended to provide?

AENSv2 is designed to expand ENS capabilities with lower fees, faster transactions, hierarchical registries for more user control, and support for multiple chains.

QHow did Vitalik Buterin react to ENS's decision to stay on Ethereum L1?

AVitalik Buterin supported the decision, calling it 'a good decision.' He emphasized that ENS names represent critical on-chain state and should remain easily accessible, and that Ethereum L1 is ideal for such semi-financial applications.

QWill halting work on Namechain affect the broader ENS roadmap?

ANo, according to Nick Johnson, halting work on Namechain will not affect the company's broader roadmap, and ENSv2 will still be released as planned.

Related Reads

Agent Race Ends, Super Workbench Takes Over

The era of fragmented AI agents is ending. Over the past month, China's tech giants—Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance—have simultaneously shifted strategy: instead of launching new, standalone AI agents, they are consolidating their various agent projects into unified "super workbenches." Tencent integrated its QClaw teams into WorkBuddy, a strategic product hailed as a potential third flagship after QQ and WeChat. Alibaba is merging its QoderWork, Wukong, and MuleRun agents into a new "Qianwen Office" platform under DingTalk's leadership. ByteDance rebranded its TRAE SOLO coding agent to TRAE Work, signaling a broader focus on workflow collaboration. This convergence marks a pivotal industry consensus. The initial exploration phase, where companies rapidly built numerous overlapping agents for different scenarios, proved costly and inefficient. With open-source tools eroding technical barriers, competition has shifted from agent creation to resource consolidation and cost control. Historically, platform wars are won not by creating more products, but by simplifying them—as seen with browsers unifying web access and super-apps consolidating services. Now, the "super workbench" aims to become the unified AI entry point for work. This reflects a deeper market realization: the primary audience for AI is no longer just programmers (a market in the tens of millions) but all knowledge workers (a market of billions). The real opportunity lies in augmenting everyday tasks—managing emails, documents, data, and meetings—across the entire workday. The core battleground is becoming control over the primary AI entry point that employees use daily. Tencent's WorkBuddy leverages WeChat and Tencent Docs; Alibaba's Qianwen Office taps into DingTalk's organizational data; ByteDance's TRAE Work integrates with Feishu's workflows. Whoever owns this "super workbench" gains strategic control over orchestrating enterprise data and APIs. This shift is redefining enterprise software. Traditional SaaS applications, valued for their user interfaces, will recede into the background. Their core functionalities will be exposed as standardized "Skills" or APIs for the super workbench's agents to invoke. Software value will shift from selling user seats to charging based on API calls and outcomes delivered. The evolution of agents is moving through clear stages: first as novel standalone products, then as consolidated primary work entry points, and finally as pervasive, invisible capabilities embedded into the digital fabric. The recent moves by major tech firms signal the transition from the first stage into the second, accelerating toward the third. In the end, the most successful agent technology may become invisible—like electricity or the HTTP protocol—a fundamental, unnamed infrastructure powering work itself.

marsbit3m ago

Agent Race Ends, Super Workbench Takes Over

marsbit3m ago

Michael Saylor: 110 Reasons to Oppose BIP-110

Michael Saylor presents 110 arguments against Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 110, a soft fork aimed at restricting certain non-monetary data storage uses (like inscriptions) on the Bitcoin blockchain. He acknowledges the proponents' valid concerns—such as node costs, fee pressure, and preserving Bitcoin's monetary focus—but fundamentally disagrees with the proposed solution. Saylor argues that BIP 110 represents a dangerous precedent of using consensus rules to enforce value judgments on transaction validity, moving away from Bitcoin's core principles of neutrality and permissionless innovation. His key objections are organized into eleven categories: 1) It violates neutrality and hard consensus by banning currently valid transactions. 2) It fails to meet the high burden of proof required for a consensus change, lacking concrete data on the alleged crisis. 3) Its seven bundled technical restrictions are overly broad, targeting generic script functionalities and blocking future upgrade paths. 4) It sacrifices compatibility and future optionality by closing off designed upgrade hooks. 5) Its temporary rules add significant complexity (grandfathering, expiry states) without sufficient justification. 6) The economic and security impacts, particularly on miner revenue and fee markets, are uncertain and unmodeled. 7) Superior, market-based tools (fee markets, relay/mining policies) already exist to manage blockchain load. 8) It stifles innovation by creating a chilling effect for developers. 9) Its modified activation mechanism (55% threshold, forced signaling) is aggressive and risks network splits. 10) The precedent it sets—using consensus to suppress disliked but legal uses—is more dangerous than the problem it aims to solve. 11) A better path exists: improving measurements, refining resource-based policies, and allowing market forces to work. Saylor concludes that Bitcoin's strength lies in its neutral rules, open markets, and hard consensus. Changing these foundational elements to target specific use cases is an unnecessary and risky "iatrogenic" intervention. He advocates for guarding Bitcoin's neutrality rather than acting as its redeemer.

marsbit18m ago

Michael Saylor: 110 Reasons to Oppose BIP-110

marsbit18m ago

United Stables Crosses $1B As Chainlink Data Feeds Secure U Token Collateral

United Stables' U token has surpassed $1 billion in market capitalization, with Chainlink Data Feeds providing the critical pricing and collateral data infrastructure across its deployment chains. This milestone highlights that robust oracle infrastructure is essential for stablecoin credibility, as DeFi protocols require reliable data for integration. Chainlink's role is foundational, enabling automated collateral auditing and pricing verification, which helps make the U token safer for the broader market to evaluate and use. While this strengthens Chainlink's position in the stablecoin infrastructure narrative, it does not directly guarantee increased fees or value for LINK token holders. The growth of U indicates both widening competition in the stablecoin sector and the increasing dependence of scalable stablecoins on dependable external data services.

bitcoinist1h ago

United Stables Crosses $1B As Chainlink Data Feeds Secure U Token Collateral

bitcoinist1h ago

BonkDAO Treasury Drain Shows Solana Governance Risk Is Real

The BonkDAO treasury suffered an approximately $20 million drain due to a malicious governance proposal passed through the Realms platform on Solana. This incident highlights governance as a critical attack surface for DAOs, distinct from smart contract exploits. The attack leveraged the DAO's own voting mechanics to move funds, demonstrating that flawed governance design—such as weak proposal rules or voter weight calculations—can be exploited even when the underlying blockchain functions correctly. The event serves as a warning for Solana DAOs to rigorously review and strengthen their governance safeguards, including quorum thresholds, timelocks, and execution permissions. While damaging to community trust, especially for the prominent BONK meme ecosystem, the issue is not a failure of the Solana base layer but a widespread application-level risk common across blockchain ecosystems.

bitcoinist1h ago

BonkDAO Treasury Drain Shows Solana Governance Risk Is Real

bitcoinist1h ago

Midnight Token Falls After $13M Wanchain Bridge Exploit

Midnight's NIGHT token plummeted roughly 30% following a $13.2 million exploit on a Wanchain cross-chain bridge. The attacker drained 515 million NIGHT tokens by exploiting a signature reuse flaw in the bridge's infrastructure, not the core Cardano or Midnight networks. This incident highlights the persistent vulnerability of cross-chain bridges, which are critical for asset transfers but introduce complex security risks. While the underlying blockchains remained secure, the token's price suffered due to liquidity disruption and lost market confidence. The response from Wanchain, including pausing the affected bridge and providing clear communication on recovery efforts, will be crucial for stabilizing the situation. The event serves as a reminder for traders to factor in bridge-related risks when evaluating tokens reliant on cross-chain liquidity.

bitcoinist2h ago

Midnight Token Falls After $13M Wanchain Bridge Exploit

bitcoinist2h ago

Trading

Spot

Hot Articles

Discussions

Welcome to the HTX Community. Here, you can stay informed about the latest platform developments and gain access to professional market insights. Users' opinions on the price of ETH (ETH) are presented below.

活动图片

Top Questions