ENS DAO Newsletter #70

Newsletter Roundup (tl;dr)

• ENS Labs: frENSday Update, PayPal / Venmo Integration

• Community: eth.link, eth.cd, Vision Updates

• Meta-Gov: $ENS Distribution, August Financial Reports

• Ecosystem: ENS Web Update, Service Provider Updates

• Public Goods: Grantee Milestones Updates

• New editions — Bi-weekly on Tuesdays

• Previous editions — Archived on the ENS DAO Archive

• New proposals — Updates via Telegram

• ENS DAO Dashboard — Available for public review

• Submit feedback — Share what you’d like to see

Refer to the ENS DAO Calendar for working group calls and events.

• Calendar: Public Access / Access with Gmail

This proposal seeks to reimburse ENS Labs for $1,218,669.76 USDC in legal fees incurred during the eth.link litigation. ENS Labs maintained ownership and control of the domain after successfully resolving the lawsuit in August 2024. The legal action was necessary to protect critical ENS infrastructure. The reimbursement will be transferred from the ENS DAO treasury following a previously passed proposal, ensuring that the financial burden of this legal action does not fall solely on ENS Labs, particularly since their actions benefited the entire ENS community.

For more details, visit the forum.

Agora proposes adding a ProposalBond mechanism to the ENS DAO Governor. This aims to lower the proposal threshold, making it more accessible while ensuring that failed proposals with sufficient “Against No Return” votes forfeit their bond. The proposal is currently open for community feedback and, if approved by the DAO, will proceed to an executable vote on Snapshot.

For more details, visit the forum.

Karpatkey has introduced an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) for the ENS Endowment. This proposal aims to establish guidelines for managing Endowment assets, ensuring the long-term viability of ENS. The IPS will define responsibilities, investment goals, and performance benchmarks. The feedback period runs from September 10 to October 1, 2024, followed by a Snapshot vote to formalize the IPS.

For more details, visit the forum.

Proposals are the means by which changes are made to the status quo. There are two types of proposals:

1. Social Proposals: Offchain proposals seeking the DAO’s agreement on social considerations that cannot be enforced onchain.

2. Executable Proposals: Onchain proposals that execute code related to the ENS Protocol and ENS DAO smart contracts, as voted on by the DAO.

Proposal Threshold: A minimum of 10k and 100k $ENS is required to submit executable proposals.

Stay updated on DAO governance and proposals by regularly checking the Term 5 Dashboardand the Voting Period Bulletin, which provide comprehensive updates and summaries. For detailed governance information, refer to our Governance Docs. To see real-time voting power distribution, visit votingpower.xyz.

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ENS Labs has officially launched the frENSday.eth website in preparation for the inaugural event, scheduled for November 11, 2024, at Devcon in Bangkok, Thailand. The event will feature discussions on cutting-edge topics, including L2 Infrastructure, Consumer Applications, Identity & Account Abstraction advancements, and ENSv2. Attendees can participate in person or via livestream, making it accessible to a global audience.

Tickets for frENSday are now live. In-person applications are being processed on a rolling basis, but a livestream option is available for those unable to attend physically. frENSday aims to bring the ENS community together for the first time.

Keynote speakers include Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, Nick Johnson, Lead Developer at ENS Labs, and Steve Ptucha from Venmo/PayPal. Medha Kothari, Product Manager at Uniswap Labs, and Paulio, CEO of 3DNS, will also be joining the lineup, bringing their expertise to the event.

More speakers will be announced as the event approaches.

ENS is now integrated with PayPal and Venmo, allowing users to simplify crypto transfers by entering their ENS name. This feature eliminates the need for copying long wallet addresses and enables secure, user-friendly transactions. An Address Book feature also allows users to save and recall frequently used ENS names and wallet addresses for faster transfers. This service is currently available in the U.S.

In August, ENS launched the official site for frENSday, a beautifully illustrated event page. Other updates include a refreshed design for the Reclaim site, allowing users from the 2017 auction to claim unclaimed ETH. ENS also introduced identity verification through Dentity, linking ENS names to real-world identities and social profiles. Several UI/UX improvements were made, including the ability to clear search history, enhanced names table behavior, and added language support for Ukrainian and Russian. For more details, visit the ENS Blog​.

There are now over 11 million cb.id registrations. A recent deep dive by Meta-Governance Steward @estmcmxci highlights how Coinbase has leveraged ENS to create branded, user-friendly blockchain profiles. This integration has been a significant factor in driving the growth of cb.id registrations and has laid the foundation for onchain profiles on Base.eth.

Read the full case study here.

ENS Labs team members were actively present at multiple major events in Singapore:

• At the SheFi Summit, Director of Business Development, Marta, participated in the issuance of SheFi subnames, such as “shefi.eth.”

• At the ETHGlobal Singapore Hackathon, ENS core developers Jeff Lau, Makoto Inoue, and Greg Skril operated the ENS booth, engaging with attendees and promoting ENS adoption.

• Token2049 saw ENS Labs COO, Katherine Wu, participating in the “State of Usability” panel at the Abstract Summit, representing ENS’s vision for blockchain usability.

The team’s participation underscores ENS’s ongoing commitment to expanding its presence and fostering community engagement in the blockchain space.

At the ETHGlobal Singapore Hackathon, ENS offered $10,000 USD in prizes to participants leveraging ENS’s decentralized naming system. Angpao.money, the first-place winner in the ENS category, built a platform that simplifies sending money to family and friends without needing a wallet. Angpao used ENS domains to make profiles more personal and memorable, enhancing the user experience.

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• ENS Radio: Bringing Real World Identities Onchain with Dentity

• ENS Radio: frENSday Discussion

Participate in improving the ENS ecosystem! Provide feedback on Canny, where members of ENS Labs and Working Group stewards will address your submissions. You can submit feedback in Feature Requests, Integrations, and Bug Reports, or upvote/comment on existing submissions. Share your feedback on Canny here.

Newsletter contributions are now open! Share updates on projects, events, significant achievements, or any changes within your community for consideration. Submit your segment by visiting the Newsletter ddocs site here and leaving a comment in the chat section.

Coinbase has introduced a new Basename registration guide to simplify assigning both a wallet and an ENS name to AI agents. The process involves:

• Spinning up a secure wallet

• Funding it with ETH

• Registering its Basename with a single API call

This guide streamlines the integration of AI agents with Ethereum wallets and ENS names, making setup easier for developers working with AI technology.

ENS Vision has released a comprehensive tutorial covering all aspects of ENS subnames. The tutorial provides answers to key questions, including:

• How to make a name submittable?

• How to mint a subname?

• Where to find your subnames?

• How to adjust minting prices and disable subminting.

This tutorial helps users better understand and manage ENS subnames, and the video is available for those interested in learning more.

eth.cd has launched a new feature that allows users to send tips directly through ENS profiles. This feature makes it easy to support and show appreciation to fellow ENS users by sending tips with just a few clicks. Users can visit profiles on eth.cd by appending their .eth as a second-level domain (2LD) to send tips and spread goodwill across the Web3 space.

The eth.link gateway is now officially powered by eth.limo, reviving its role as a key ENS gateway for decentralized websites. Originally developed by the ENS team and later maintained by Cloudflare, eth.link had faced legal controversies, performance issues, and limited community engagement.

With the transition to eth.limo, users can now expect enhanced features, including:

• CCIP and ENSIP-10 support for wildcard resolvers and cross-chain resolution of ENS domains

• Subdomain support

• IPFS, IPNS, Swarm, Arweave, and Arweave Naming Service (ARNS) compatibility

• DNS over HTTPS

• Continuous technical support and improvements

This update marks a new chapter for eth.link, aiming to restore it as a reliable, decentralized gateway for the ENS ecosystem.

The Ethereum Follow Protocol (EFP) has published its full API documentation, enabling developers to integrate EFP into their applications. The API allows access to user follower and following counts, supporting both Ethereum addresses and ENS names. Developers can experiment with testnet data, with mainnet data integration expected at launch next week. This documentation streamlines app integration with EFP’s social metrics within the Ethereum ecosystem.

The latest release of the POAP Home app includes a feature allowing collectors to claim a free ENS subname. The option is available for users whose POAP Home app is linked to a collection that does not already have an ENS name.

A form has been set up to gather questions for the ENS DAO working groups panel, taking place during frENSday at Devcon week. Whether attending in person or not, participants are encouraged to submit their questions in advance to contribute to the discussion.

Unruggable launched its open-source codebase, providing an end-to-end solution for trustlessly reading data from L2 rollups. It supports multiple chains, including Arbitrum, Base, Zora, and ZKSync, among others. The solution simplifies ENS name data resolution across rollup chains with an easy-to-integrate API. Developers and builders can join Unruggable’s Discord for discussions and tech support while using their open-source gateways for ENS on Layer 2.

For more information, visit the Unruggable documentation.

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• Meta-Governance – @5pence.eth

• ENS Ecosystem – @slobo.eth

• Public Goods – @simona_pop

• DAO Secretary - @limes

The responsibilities of the Lead Stewards & Secretary are set out in Rule 9.8 and Rule 9.9 of the Working Group Rules.

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Working Group	Time	Schedule	Location
Meta-Governance	1pm UTC	Tuesday	Google Meet
Ecosystem	4pm UTC	Thursday	Google Meet
Public Goods	5pm UTC	Thursday	Google Meet

The Meta-Governance Working Group provides governance oversight and support for working group operations through DAO tooling and governance initiatives.

• Minutes for Weekly Meta-Governance Meeting — September 10

• Minutes for Weekly Meta-Governance Meeting — September 17

• 5pence.eth

• avsa.eth

• estmcmxci.eth

The Meta-Governance Working Group distributed 80,000 $ENS tokens to ENS DAO Service Providers and Security Council members to enhance decentralized governance by increasing voting power among key contributors. This distribution, aligned with the ENS DAO’s goals for broader participation, occurred via 2-year vesting contracts to ensure long-term engagement and security.

For more details, visit the forum.

• Revenue > Cash Burn, Runway: 140 months

• Revenue: $1.9M (vs. $2.4M last month)

• Cash Inflow: $1M (vs. $1M last month)

• Normalized Cash Burn: $0.8M

• Reserves: $113M (ETH: 101M, USDC: 12M)

• Total Endowment: $79.7M

• P&L: -$15.7M (ETH mark-to-market)

Review the full report prepared by @Steakhouse here.

• Total funds in the endowment: $79.7M

• Capital utilization: 74.6%

• Monthly DeFi results: $205,824

Review the full report prepared by @Karpatkey here.

Agora recommended using OpenZeppelin as the auditor for the ENS Governor’s proposal bond. They suggest trusted firms like CodeArena or Trail of Bits for further security audits. Discussions on delegation issues with Coinbase are ongoing, focusing on redelegating users due to wallet access challenges. The social proposal for the Governor upgrade is expected to go live soon, with audits to follow once passed.

Danch @danchquixote introduced the ENS Ledger, a quarterly visualization tool for ENS DAO transactions displayed in a Sankey chart format. The tool allows users to download charts updated every two hours and add recipient information to enhance robustness. A repository will be published upon completion, though the app currently lacks mobile optimization.

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The Ecosystem Working Group strengthens the ENS Protocol by facilitating developer relations, identifying and funding high-potential projects that enhance ENS, and supporting ENS-aligned initiatives.

• Minutes for Weekly Ecosystem Meeting — September 12

• Minutes for Weekly Ecosystem Meeting — September 19

• Slobo.eth

• Limes.eth

• 184.eth

1. ENSv2: Progress updates and next steps were outlined in the latest blog post.

2. ENS Web Update: ENS Labs delivered a Web Update for the month of August, which you can read here.

3. frENSday: ENS Labs is hosting the frENSday event on November 11 in Bangkok, with Vitalik Buterin confirmed as a speaker.

4. PayPal and Venmo: ENS addresses can now be used for crypto withdrawals from PayPal and Venmo, supporting subnames as well.

1. Unruggable: Unruggable released their first ready version for resolving names from L2 and L3 rollups, providing support for OP Stack, Arbitrum Stack, and ZK teams. They are seeking feedback and will continue development to enhance standards across chains. The announcement and documentation are available on their GitHub and Discord.

2. NameSpace: The NameSpace SDK is under development, and contributors are encouraged to join the Builder’s chat for collaboration.

3. Blockful: Blockful’s name.ful.xyz project has live contracts, allowing users to edit records directly within the app. The next steps include bringing the proof of concept to L2s for further testing and development. The project aims to improve the user experience for managing records on the blockchain.

1. eth.cd: @hidayath.eth presented a new feature on eth.cd that allows users to send tips directly through a new tipping button.

2. awesome-ens: @slobo.eth created awesome-ens, a curated list of valuable ENS-related resources. Contributions are welcome via pull requests (PRs). For more details, visit the awesome-ens GitHub repository.

1. ENSIP GitHub Repository: The ENSIP GitHub repository was updated with the latest proposals, including work on ENSIP0, which focuses on establishing procedures for ENS Improvement Proposals (ENSIPs). The team is also finalizing the draft for L2s, to be published in the forum soon. For more details, visit the ENSIP GitHub repo.

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The Public Goods Working Group supports the Ethereum ecosystem by identifying and funding open-source development.

• Minutes for Weekly Public Goods Meeting — September 12

• Minutes for Weekly Public Goods Meeting — September 19

• Simona.eth

• Coltron.eth

• Vegayp.eth

ETH Mexico took place over the past weekend with support from Public Goods sponsors. The event saw attendees from across Mexico, with 84% being non-locals. Leading up to the main event, several community gatherings were held. Feedback was gathered to plan for improvements at ETH Mexico 2025. An impact report will be sent to Public Goods Stewards in approximately three weeks.

For more details, visit ETH Mexico.

Borderless Africa, a founder-residency forum, focuses on advanced-stage projects across the continent. Currently, 16 startups are working on solutions for on-off ramps, savings, payments, and infrastructure. Grants from Public Goods have been allocated to support Devcon attendance scholarships. The collective is also considering DAO governance participation, with plans to explore delegation mechanics.

1. Large Grants: Approximately $45k has been disbursed, with grantees meeting milestones and on track to close out by year-end. The status of grantees can be viewed on Questbook, a grant management platform used to track progress and manage payouts.

2. Small Grants: No decision has been made regarding the date for the next round, but plans are in place to run one by the end of the month.

ENS DAO offers several resources for understanding and participating in its ecosystem:

• ENS DAO Basics: Learn about the ENS DAO, including voting and governance.

• Support Docs: Guidance on registration, renewals, and development aspects.

• Governance Docs: Insights into governance structure.

• ENS Agora: Governance hub for proposal review and voting.

• Give Feedback: Share input to help improve ENS.

• ENS Repository: The ENS Protocol’s main GitHub repository.

Thank you for reading! Goodbye. 👋