Hilton and other celebrities snapped up Ethereum ENS domain names. What is the difference between .eth and .com?

[TL; DR]

Celebrities like Paris Hilton, Anthony Hopkins, Shaquille O'Neal, and Jimmy Fallon are now championing the purchase of .eth domains, the most recent "gold rush" trend in Web3.

With many celebrities, brands, and investors jumping on board with ENS, the future is optimistic for the leading blockchain name service.

Instead of being signified by a long line of numbers and letters that comprises a crypto wallet address, an ENS domain links this address via a smart contract to a more human-friendly domain name.

The Ethereum Name Service has hit a milestone of 2 million ".eth" addresses minted just three and half months after the platform reached 1 million addresses.

On the Ethereum blockchain, the Ethereum Name Service regulates the issuance and maintenance of .eth domain names. The domains may also be sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cryptographically distinct tokens used to prove ownership of tangible or intangible objects.
The .eth is anticipated to grow, but one of the biggest threats to .eth is competition from other blockchains, like the .sol, where web3 users can also purchase a domain name.






Celebrities Snap up Ethereum ENS

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The Ethereum ENS domain name is a decentralized naming system that uses the ".eth" suffix and is for web3 applications based on the Ethereum blockchain. Instead of using QR codes or complicated public addresses, ENS domain names enable users to sync their wallets to human-readable domains with the ".eth" suffix.

Its mass adoption can be evidenced by the fact that prominent celebrities like Paris Hilton, Anthony Hopkins, Shaquille O'Neal, Jimmy Fallon, and personalities like Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Tobias Lütke, CEO of Shopify, have added the .eth extension to their names on Twitter.


Famous actor Anthony Hopkins registered a .eth domain to his name on his official Twitter account. Also, Will Brown, a Miami lawyer, after registering copyright for GeoCities — formerly owned by Yahoo! — went to purchase the corresponding .eth address with actual plans to establish a community there. However, the rush in the crypto-periphery ecosystem to purchase .eth domain names before they go mainstream.

From reports, the quantity of Ethereum Name Service (ENS) addresses created increased dramatically in four months, surpassing 2 million this August after breaking the 1.8 million thresholds some weeks ago, even while the crypto space gears up for the Ethereum merge.


What Makes .eth So Special?

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According to Whittaker: "There are many intriguing and fun projects out there in Web3, and the Ethereum Name Service certainly ranks as one of the most prominent."

Ethereum ENS domain name would be the central hub for a person's entire digital persona, including their bank account, LinkedIn CV, and social network profile. .eth domain names may be more prevalent to individuals exploring the web3 than to businesses. This can be part of the explanations for why celebrities like Paris Hilton, Jimmy Fallon, and Anthony Hopkins have acquired the .eth domain extension for their names.

To benefit from the developing web3 space, proponents claim that ENS domains with the .eth suffix can give consumers a tool that can integrate their overall online presence.

Samantha Yap, in her words, emphasized how important it is to acquire ENS domains, especially for brands. She said: "It's comparable to reserving a domain name for a startup business. Brands risk falling behind or being perceived as behind the times if they don't act quickly. Imagine a world where Nike didn't have nike.com. The same holds for possessing a .eth."


The difference between .eth and .com

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In essence, a ".eth," or "Ethereum Domain," is a human-readable name for the Ethereum ecosystem. ".eth" address signifies ownership of a cryptocurrency wallet that holds NFTs and cryptocurrency. Like domain names or social handles, it provides a short, precise, and reliable name that best identifies a person's account, much like the conventional DNS system does for the ".com" versions.

Conversely, the developer of ENS Vision explained the distinction between a.com and .eth domain names as follows:

ENS domain likewise encrypts and as well as secures a user's identity.

A web2.com domain indicate only one specific page. However, with a.eth, you can submit your site and also keep it in a decentralized form.

Because it is not dependent on a single web server, it is distributed throughout the Ethereum network. It is more safeguarded from attacks.

Unlike the conventional Domain Solution (DNS), ENS domains can supply more than a single link to a website or e-mail address.

A .eth domain name may store a person's medical history, insurance information, driver's license, bank login and credit score, educational background, and even their passport under one name in blockchain technology.


Major concern For .eth

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Although the market for .eth is expected to keep scaling, one primary concern for .eth is the competition from other blockchains, like the Solana protocol, where web3 users can buy a .sol domain name. Unstoppable Domains allow web3 users to create a memorable, human-readable domain name. They call their system a Cryptographic Name Service (CNS), and like the ENS alternative, they run as "smart contracts" on the Ethereum blockchain.

For .eth, this is a concern because Unstoppable Domains are a direct rival to their brand authority. But Dordevi asserted that he does not believe that .sol poses a danger to .eth; he said: "You can look at the quantity of Ethereum wallets and the whole market valuation of the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum is the second-most popular blockchain. People are more likely to value the .eth domain than the .sol. Additionally, more than 90% of web3 domains are .eth domains.


Is this rush merely a frenzy?

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Not minding the recent bust and boom to purchase a .eth. The question is, in the future, how secure are these .eth domain names? Will they outlast .com?

Bloom predicts the market for .eth and ENS will not dramatically explode but will gradually replace the legacy of DNS of the .com era. Bloom said: "There is unquestionably a chance that it will eventually be accepted worldwide. As time goes on, more applications and use cases for web2 are being found. It won't be long until some prominent groups start using these names in their everyday business operations. But I don't believe this calls for shadowing web2 domains. Naturally, there will be a need to understand and use the blockchain as web3 expands. ENS and web3 domains are those remedies.

In the meantime, the system of ENS supporters is very vibrant and active, and these organically disseminate information about the potential of ENS domains; with these, the ENS domain name market continues to grow, with 2 million registered domain names this August, up from 1 million a month earlier.


Overall Thought

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The number of prominent individuals adopting ENS is fascinating, yet this is nothing new. Since web3's .eth branch is still nascent, it is assumed that people are inclined to gush over them. However, there is a considerable difference between the .eth and .com. Most of them have already been covered in the discussion above, but the main difference is that .eth is a more human-friendly web3 identity.



Author: Gate.io Observer: M. Olatunji
* This article represents only the views of the observers and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
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