ENS (Ethereum Name Service)

A decentralized naming system that maps human-readable names to Ethereum addresses.

The Ethereum Name Service maps names like alice.eth to Ethereum addresses, IPFS hashes, contract addresses, and other identifiers. ENS names are themselves NFTs, owned by the registrant and tradeable. Names are registered for fixed annual fees, with shorter names costing more.

ENS solved the user experience problem of long hex addresses. Instead of sending funds to 0xa1b4...c8d2, you send to alice.eth. Most wallets and DApps now resolve ENS names automatically. The system has expanded to support subdomains, off-chain resolvers, and integration with other namespaces.