ENS

ENS is Ethereum’s open naming system. It turns a readable name such as alice.eth into a place for cryptocurrency addresses, content references and identity data, while keeping ownership and records under the controls attached to that name.

.eth registration has an active renewal lifecycle

The ETH Registrar issues .eth names as tokens through Ethereum smart contracts. Registration is paid in ETH and lasts for a chosen term; annual pricing rises sharply for three- and four-character names compared with names of five characters or more.

An expired name remains renewable for 90 days. It then returns to public registration with a premium that declines over 21 days, so a name cannot be treated as permanently held merely because it was registered once. Another account may pay for renewal, but control still depends on retaining the owning key and renewing before the lifecycle ends.

Resolvers turn one name into more than a payment address

A chosen resolver can hold Ethereum and other multicoin addresses, text records, content hashes, contract ABIs and public keys. This lets one name represent different destinations and data rather than reducing it to a single Ethereum address.

The resolver determines the record formats available to an application. A wallet or website must support the record it is trying to read, so adding a record does not ensure that every product will display or use it. Reverse resolution works in the other direction, allowing an integrated product to show a configured name for an address.

Subdomains and imported DNS names extend the namespace

A .eth owner can create subdomains and set their records or custom resolution logic. The name itself can remain at one address while its address record points elsewhere, separating ownership of the name from the address presented for payments or identity.

ENS can also import eligible DNS names through DNSSEC. Unstoppable Domains provides the closest lifecycle contrast: its minted UNS domains have no renewal requirement, whereas .eth names use the timed registration, grace-period and premium sequence. ENS instead centers the .eth namespace, resolver interfaces and subdomain control.