ENS DAO Newsletter #60

Newsletter Roundup (tl;dr):

• ENS Labs Update: ENS Anniversary, Box Domains Integration, USPTO Petition,

• Community Updates: Privacy-preserving names on Base

• Meta-Governance: Active Voting Period, Q1 Review

• Ecosystem: Updates, ENSIP forum, Project Highlights

• Public Goods: Small Grants Results, Large Grants presentations

Welcome to the ENS DAO Newsletter:

• New editions — published bi-weekly (Tuesday)

• Previous editions are archived on the ENS DAO Archive.

• New proposals are broadcasted to Telegram.

• ENS DAO Dashboard is now available for public review.

• Submit feedback — tell us what to feature!

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

• Calendar: Public Access / Access with Gmail

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The Term 5 Dashboard, managed by the Meta-Governance Working Group, provides updated summaries of DAO governance and initiatives. Regularly check it for the latest developments.

Note: A minimum of 100k $ENS is required to submit executable proposals. Once a proposal gains momentum, the stewards will prioritize it for a vote during the designated voting window. See our Governance Docs for more information. To view the real-time distribution of voting power among delegates, visit votingpower.xyz.

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@AvsA outlined a Governance Distribution Program in an effort to increase the $ENS voting supply. It details a strategy for distributing ENS tokens to DAO members — review the temp-check here. — 03.19.24

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In April 2024, the ENS Protocol registered 48k new .eth domains, bringing the total to 2.1 million. The protocol generated revenue of $1.4 million during this period, all of which was allocated to the ENS DAO. The number of Ethereum account holders with at least one ENS name increased by 44.5k, totaling 877k. There were 42.3k primary ENS names set, making the overall count 833k. Additionally, 9.3k new avatar records were created, reaching a cumulative total of 169k. — 1

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ENS announced several significant improvements aimed at enhancing the functionality and user experience of their platform. These updates include everything from a redesigned website to advanced security measures, reflecting ENS’s commitment to providing robust and user-friendly web3 infrastructure.

Here’s a summary of the key highlights from the update:

1. New Documentation Site: A revamped documentation site with added event videos.

2. Gasless DNSSEC Support: Enhanced support for importing DNS names without gas fees, with a streamlined offchain process.

3. Website Redesign: Updates to the ENS domain website, improving visual elements like fonts and icons.

4. Search Function Improvements: Case-insensitive search capabilities and removal of risky autocomplete features.

5. Testing Infrastructure: Transition from Cypress to Playwright for better efficiency in end-to-end testing.

6. Web3 Starter Kit: Introduction of a Web3 starter kit using Next.js for easier project setups.

7. Security and Quality of Life Enhancements: Multiple updates to improve user experience and security across the platform.

For more information, you can view the full update here. — 04.17.24

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Box Domains and ENS have announced a partnership, integrating .box domains into the ENS ecosystem. Box Domains is the first Top-Level Domain registrar to be integrated alongside .eth on the ENS Manager App. This collaboration allows users to explore and register .box names through the ENS Manager App, alongside .eth names. The integration represents a step towards blending Web2 familiarity with Web3 innovation, offering users the ability to tokenize Web2 domains and fully own their .box names as NFTs, which are ready for website and email use. Read more details about the partnership on the ENS Blog. — 04.23.24

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ENS has informed its stance on a patent obtained by Unstoppable Domains (UD) for technology originally developed as open-source by ENS Labs. ENS has petitioned the USPTO to challenge the validity of the patent, as it believes UD’s patent grab contradicts its ethos and disrupts the foundations of Web3 and the open internet. ENS highlights that UD has applied for several other patents for basic technologies, threatening decentralization and public benefit. ENS is committed to ensuring that essential web functions remain free and unrestricted, and it is transparent in its efforts to defend a vision of the internet that is open and innovative for everyone. — 05.02.24

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Luc.eth, developer relations at ENS Labs, has announced a series of updates to ccip.tools. The updates aim to enhance user experience and functionality on the platform. Users can explore the new features, including Holesky support, improved transaction history, updated URLs on previously deployed Resolvers, and an upgraded Wagmi feature. Visit ccip.tools to learn more and experience these updates firsthand. — 05.02.24

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ENS is celebrating its 7th anniversary on May 4th, 2024, and to commemorate this milestone, it has released a special NFT on Zora via Base. This unique NFT, available for minting at 0.0007 ETH, serves as a piece of the future, aligning with the theme, “May the address be with you!” to celebrate ENS’s seventh year. Over 29k NFTs have been minted at the time of this writing. Have a look at the NFT here. — 05.03.24

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EthCC has announced Makoto Inoue from ENS Labs as one of its speakers for the event, which will be held in Brussels from July 8-11, 2024. Makoto will be speaking on the track focused on Rollups and Scaling Solutions. — 05.03.24

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• ENS Radio: ENS Manager App Integrates Box Domains — 04.24.24

• ENS Radio: Onthis and ENS named smart contracts — 04.29.24

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Participate in improving the ENS Ecosystem! Provide feedback on Canny, where members of ENS Labs and Working Group stewards will work to address your submissions. The ENS community can submit feedback in three main categories: Feature Requests, Integrations, and Bug Reports. You can also participate by upvoting or commenting on existing submissions. We’re listening to the community, send your feedback on Canny now.

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Share updates on projects developing ENS for consideration for inclusion in the newsletter. Submit contributions and describe at least one nifty feature about your project for potential inclusion in the newsletter. Send your contributions here.

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Kiwi News is a decentralized news platform, akin to Hacker News, focusing on crypto tech, products, and culture. The platform has 2,000 monthly readers and 120 curators, with user profiles built on top of ENS. The news feed can be accessed at news.kiwistand.com, while individual profiles, such as news.kiwistand.com/macbudkowski.eth, provide insights into specific users. — 04.23.24

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Uniswap integrated ENS subnames with the uni.eth name, and in just two months, over 500,000 usernames have been claimed. This highlights the rapid adoption of this decentralized identity feature.eb3 identities using the Uniswap domain. — 04.24.24

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ENS DAO Ecosystem stewrad, Limes.eth, delivered their ENS Roundup, the comprehensive bi-weekly digest of ENS ecosystem news. It includes updates on various fronts: from the ENS blog and web enhancements to app integrations featuring Box Domains powered by 3dns_inc. Highlights encompass significant milestones such as @Uniswap’s registration of 450,000 uni.eth subnames, Onthisxyz’s Shortcut discovery page named by ENS domains, and Kraken’s integration of ENS. Watch the round up here. - 04.24.24

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Fluidkey has announced its transition to beta on the Base blockchain, offering privacy-preserving ENS names. The platform has generated over 40,000 such addresses so far and opened beta access for 48 hours. Base, the most requested chain since Fluidkey’s launch, is now their default. Fluidkey is supported by partners like Safe, ENS, and Privy, and is focused on enhancing onchain privacy without compromising user experience. Claim your privacy-preserving ENS name here. — 04.25.24

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The Giveth Builders Quadratic Funding round concluded with a $20,000 DAI matching pool sponsored by the Public Goods Working Group on the OP Mainnet. The round, facilitated by Giveth, ran from March 25th to April 8th, 2024, receiving 412 donations from 134 donors, totaling $7,503 USD. Donations were made in various tokens across several networks, supporting 34 projects focused on building public goods. Eligible donations required a Gitcoin passport score of 5 or more and a minimum value of $0.90 USD. Recirculated and sybil-related donations were disqualified. A list of participating projects can be found here. For more details, read Giveth’s blog. — 04.26.24

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Namespace has facilitated the integration of ENS into Tatum SDK, allowing developers to easily implement ENS functionality using an extension built by Namespace and published on Tatum’s open-source extension platform. This integration enables developers to register ENS domains, manage text records, and resolve addresses and names, promoting easier adoption of decentralized identities in blockchain applications. — 04.29.24

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ENS and Talent Protocol have partnered to allow builders to enhance their Talent Passport with an ENS credential. This partnership enables users to boost their Builder Score with an ENS name, sync their ENS profile data easily, and introduces ENS-powered usernames, which are coming soon. The partnership allows users with an ENS domain as their primary name to automatically receive an ENS credential, boosting their Builder Score. Users can also sync their ENS profile data with their Talent Passport profile and use interoperable Web3 usernames. Talent Protocol encourages builders to create a Talent Passport, bring their reputation on-chain, and earn rewards as early adopters. Try it now. — 04.29.24

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The latest portfolio dWebsite template by Webhash.eth, tailored for Web3 pioneers, has been launched on their website This template offers seamless integration for .eth and .box domains. — 04.29.24

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Namespace has announced that all ENS Name owners can now issue (gift or sell) Subnames through Farcaster Frames on Warpcast. This exciting feature allows users to list any ENS Name on the app and let people mint through a frame, with ENS Subnames now available on Farcaster. The process involves first listing an ENS Name on the Namespace app, then generating a frame through the Widgets section to issue the Subnames.

To list an ENS Name on the Namespace app, owners should go to the Account tab, select the Manager tab, and choose the ENS Name they want to issue Subnames from. To generate a frame, owners should go to Widgets, click on Frames, choose a custom or default frame, select their ENS name, and share on Warpcast.

More detailed instructions on how to list an ENS name and generate a Farcaster frame can be found by clicking each respective link. — 04.30.24

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The Ethereum Follow Protocol (EFP) has recently undergone significant updates, with the successful completion of hiring efforts leading to the formation of a strong team. To stay informed, follow @ethfollowpr on X for regular updates. Additionally, interested individuals can review the open-source code on their Github repository. —05.01.24

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Eth.limo has announced a significant rebranding initiative, accompanied by the launch of a new website The new website showcases an updated design and user experience, aimed at enhancing accessibility and engagement for users. — 05.02.24

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Nicnames announced the release of an ICANN-accredited registrar for .ETH domain registrations and renewals. This launch coincides with the 7th anniversary of ENS, marking a significant milestone. Key features include easy registration and renewal via hardware wallets like Ledger for added security. Metamask users can also manage domains directly in the wallet interface. Nicnames offers a custodial wallet creation service for newcomers to the crypto ecosystem, bridging the gap between Web2 and Web3 domains. Future plans include introducing autorenewals for .ETH domains and more integrations to improve user experience, with a focus on community feedback to shape decentralized web services. —05.04.24

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Integrous is a Web3-focused project specializing in onboarding businesses and individuals with a user-friendly approach. They have developed a pilot ENS advertisement that emphasizes the simplicity of wallet transactions. The ENS advertisement showcases a user-friendly approach to onboarding businesses and individuals. The ad emphasizes the simplicity of wallet transactions using ENS. As of this writing, it has garnered 71,263 impressions and 1,653 engagements.

To watch the advertisement, visit: Integrous.eth on X.

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• Meta-Governance – @5pence.eth

• ENS Ecosystem – @slobo.eth

• Public Goods – @vegayp

• 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

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

Meeting Minutes:

• Minutes for Weekly Meta-Governance Meeting — April 23

• Minutes for Weekly Meta-Governance Meeting — April 30

Meeting Info:

• Tuesdays · 1:00 – 1:45pm UTC

• Meeting link

Term 5 Meta-Governance Stewards:

• 5pence.eth

• avsa.eth

• estmcmxci.eth

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The primary mission of ENS DAO is to govern the protocol and allocate resources in line with its constitution and objectives. However, changing economic dynamics make the DAO vulnerable to attacks aimed at draining its treasury. This proposal seeks approval from the ENS DAO to counter governance attacks by creating a veto role (veto.ensdao.eth), endowed with approximately 3.8 million $ENS delegated from ENS Labs. This role will be controlled by a multisig wallet pertaining to a trusted group to veto proposals that threaten the DAO’s integrity or violate its constitution. It also introduces a CANCEL role, assigned to the same multisig wallet.

Cast your vote: Snapshot

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This proposal suggests implementing a vesting schedule for $ENS tokens distributed to stewards of all three ENS DAO Working Groups. The proposed vesting will occur over a 24-month period to align steward interests with the DAO’s long-term goals, with provisions for both current and retroactive vesting terms.
Cast your vote: Snapshot 1

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Meta-Governance steward, estmcmxci.eth, presented the Q1 review encapsulating the initiatives, outcomes, and future trajectory of the ENS DAO Meta-Governance Working Group.

• Implementation of Service Provider Streams

• Drafting of ENS DAO Bylaws

• Establishment of a $ENS Refund Policy

• Introduction of a Steward Vesting Proposal

• Implementation of Gasless Voting on Tally

• Context of Meta-Governance responsibilities

• Transition between steward terms

• Ongoing efforts to empower stakeholders and ensure governance process integrity

• Introduction of veto.ensdao.eth

• Enablement of the CANCEL role

• Continued discussions on compensation guidelines and governance distribution

The Meta-Governance Q1 Review serves as a roadmap for navigating the evolving landscape of ENS DAO governance, fostering collaboration, transparency, and innovation within the ecosystem.

Read the review in full here

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The ENS DAO Q1 Spending Report offers a comprehensive overview of the financial activities and governance distribution within the ENS Working Groups during the first quarter of 2024. Divided into two sections—Spending and Governance Distribution—the report provides valuable insights into the utilization of resources and the allocation of governance tokens.

In Q1, the total spending across all working groups amounted to $664k USD, with meticulous breakdowns provided for each group.

• Ecosystem: The Ecosystem working group expended $410,274 USDC during the quarter, covering various initiatives such as hackathons, grants, and other operational expenses related to events like ETH Denver and ETH London.

• Meta-Governance: A total expenditure of 163,279 USDC and 3.42 ETH was reported by the Meta-Governance working group. This includes compensation for stewards, expenses related to DAO tooling, and payments to Lemma Solutions for drafting the ENS DAO Bylaws.

• Public Goods: The Public Goods working group disbursed $79,851 USDC, primarily directed towards grants and event support for hackathons like ETH Denver and ETH Global London.

Each group’s spending is further dissected to provide a detailed understanding of where the funds were allocated, ranging from hackathon sponsorships to operational costs.

In addition to financial transactions, the Meta-Governance working group distributed 589 ENS tokens during Q1. These tokens were distributed to 13 recipients who accidentally sent ENS tokens to the ENS token contract, rendering their tokens inaccessible. This initiative aims to rectify inadvertent transactions and ensure fairness within the ecosystem.

The meticulous documentation of spending and governance distribution underscores the ENS DAO’s commitment to transparency and accountability. By providing a transparent overview of financial activities and governance token distributions, the report empowers stakeholders to make informed decisions and actively participate in the DAO’s operations and initiatives.

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The Security Council proposal seeks to bolster the DAO’s security measures against cryptoeconomic threats by enabling the allow contract to initiate the cancel function on the timelock, preventing malicious exploitation of voting mechanisms. While addressing immediate concerns, some members, like Jengajojo and Spike, raise worries about the proposal’s impact on decentralization efforts. However, proponents like avsa.eth stress the necessity of thwarting malicious activities in the short term, emphasizing that the Security Council’s role is limited to canceling such actions. Discussions also revolve around token delegation within the DAO, urging members to contribute insights for further consideration, as transparency and long-term sustainability remain paramount in navigating these complexities.

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Lemma Solutions has provided the Meta-Governance Working Group with its first draft of the Bylaws. The Working Group will review this submission and continue to deliberate on next steps.

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@karpatkey presented an update on the Endowment, reporting a current value of $92.7 million.

Endowment Overview:

• Portfolio Composition:

  • Ether: 76.0%

  • Stablecoins: 24.0%

• Capital Utilization: 99.96%

• Current APR: 4.48%

• General Comments:

  • ZRM v2 Migration Proposal to be posted

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Karpatkey’s upcoming proposal introduces the activation of Roles Modifier v2, enhancing treasury management operations with features like allowances and improved visualization. The revised permissions policy enables swapping actions on CoW Swap while removing obsolete actions and protocols, ensuring robustness and security within the DAO ecosystem. Read the proposal in full here.

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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 bolstering support for ENS-aligned initiatives overall.

Meeting Minutes:

• Minutes for Weekly Ecosystem Meeting — April 25

• Minutes for Weekly Ecosystem Meeting — May 2

Meeting Info:

• Thursdays · 4:00 – 5:00pm UTC

• Meeting link

Term 5 Ecosystem Stewards:

• Slobo.eth

• Limes.eth

• 184.eth

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• The ENS Ecosystem Working Group sponsored the opening night event at FarCon

• The Working Group will have a presence at ETHCC in Brussels, Belgium from July 8-11.

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• View the announcement on ENS Twitter.

• You can now explore and register .box names through the ENS Manager App, alongside .eth names.

• Greg has built a website (personal project) displaying incoming .box registrations since they are all public on-chain.

• Ongoing maintenance and bug fixes.

• Improving name validation and search functionality.

• If you notice bugs, send them to the developer telegram group.

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Gitcoin Round 20 has concluded, having offered a matching fund of 125k USDC for projects dedicated to advancing, expanding, or supporting the decentralized identity system centered around ENS. The round closed on May 7th, with approximately $7800 in donations already contributed across 39 projects, totaling 6700 donations. A dashboard displaying statistics for the round can be accessed through Gitcoin’s Explorer. Additionally, Limes.eth hosted a “Speed Donating” space to promote projects participating in the round. A recording of Spaces Held during this period is available here,

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Matteoikari.eth has developed an AI-powered API tailored for converting text into smart contract code. This innovation enables users to write natural language commands for onchain transactions, with Brian AI acting as an intermediary, comprehending user input and facilitating the execution of transactions. The project has garnered recognition by winning several bounties in hackathons and has since evolved into a fully-fledged startup. Currently, the platform is in public beta, with the API readily accessible. Efforts are underway to integrate the service with ENS. Key functionalities include checking ENS availability, registering an ENS for a specified duration, verifying the expiration time of an ENS, renewing an ENS for a specified period, and assessing the associated cost of renewal or registration.

David Truong presented x23.ai, which utilizes Large Language Models (LLMs) to curate information on DAOS. This innovative initiative pulls information from various sources, including Github, forums, and more. Particularly noteworthy is the ENS-specific page titled “The ENS community” on x23.ai’s platform. Currently, the project covers 29 communities, allowing users to search across all these communities seamlessly. For further engagement, you can reach David Truong on Telegram: @daveytea.

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@slobo.eth from Resolver Works presented a platform, utilized to educate students at Columbia Business School on minting NFTs on Arbitrum. These NFTs also grant ENS and are tradable on OpenSea. Additionally, they also initiated a project titled “Resolvers & Latency,” aimed at summarizing existing resolvers in ENS and their latency to obtain accurate performance statistics.

@thecap.eth from Namespace shared updates on Namespace, simplifying the integration and issuance of ENS Subnames to users within Web3. Recently, Namespace introduced a new feature allowing users to create Frames in Warpcast, enabling the issuance of subdomains through an intuitive UI. Additionally, @thecap.eth is actively enhancing subdomain creation Frames with more customization options and is planning to establish L2 infrastructure for issuing subdomains on Layer 2 solutions.

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Premm.eth and Slobo.eth have initiated discussions regarding the establishment of a formal Ethereum Name Service Improvement Proposal (ENSIP) process. The primary objective of the ENSIP project is to standardize and provide high-quality documentation for ENS itself and the conventions built upon it. The project’s repository can be found on GitHub under unruggable-labs/ENSIPS. One notable document within the repository is ensip-D10-001.md. An idea proposed is to discuss ENSIPs on a monthly cadence during the Ecosystem calls. For further information or engagement, Premm.eth can be reached on social media platforms such as X or Telegram under the handle @nxt3d.

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

Meeting Minutes:

• Minutes for Weekly Public Goods Meeting — April 25

• Minutes for Weekly Public Goods Meeting — May 2

Meeting Info:

• Thursdays · 5:00 - 5:45pm UTC

• Meeting link

Term 5 Public Goods Stewards:

• Coltron.eth

• Vegayp.eth

• Simona.eth

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DAppNode, led by Lanski and Marc, offers free open-source software for running blockchain nodes without technical expertise. The platform provides a user-friendly UI for installing nodes like Bitcoin and Zcash. It promotes decentralization and encourages individuals to run their own nodes.

To address Miner Extractable Value (MEV) challenges, DAppNode introduced Smooth, which distributes MEV rewards more equitably among solo stakers. A statistics page shows higher returns for those in Smooth.

For installation, refer to DAppNode’s Installation Overview. The project is seeking large validators like Lido to join Smooth and share rewards. DAppNode is also developing tech v2, focusing on restaking protocols, multi-unsubscribe features, and enhancements in smart contracts and oracles.

DAppNode has integrated Optimism nodes and plans to add zkEVM and other Layer 2 solutions. @Coltron.eth praised the team’s commitment to large grants and efforts.

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Voting for ENS Small Grants concluded, distributing 7.5 ETH to projects that support the Web3 ecosystem. The prize breakdown is as follows: 3 ETH for first place, 2 ETH for second, and 1 ETH for third. Projects in the top ten receive 0.25 ETH each. Winnings will be awarded shortly. — 05.05.24

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This perpetual PG bounty seeks innovative projects aligning with ENS’s ethos as a public good, aiming to enrich the Ethereum ecosystem. Developers are invited to propose solutions focusing on decentralization, security, user empowerment, adoption, and innovation, with a chance to win a bounty pot of 5,000 USDC. Submit your project here.

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

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

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

• Governance Docs: Offers additional insights into governance structure.

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

• Give Feedback: Feedback platform where users share input to improve ENS.

• ENS Repository: The ENS Protocol’s main Github Repository.

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Thank you very much for reading! Goodbye.