All you need to know about the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and Airdrop
I. Basic introduction
ENS, short for Ethereum Name Service, was early incubated by the Ethereum Foundation and is a distributed, open and scalable naming system based on the Ethereum blockchain. It is an online registry that links digital IP addresses with easy-to-remember URLs. This online registry corresponds to the content of smart contracts on Ethereum.
For example, Zhang Shang registered an Ethereum account: 1234aasdfr543431fs3d12342454dfwbvfgnrt23.
In order to facilitate the transaction and memory, he applied for an ENS domain name (zhangshang.eth), binding his Ethereum address with the domain name. This way, others can make transactions to Zhang Shan directly to zhangshang.eth.
The implementation of such a function will greatly reduce the entry threshold of cryptocurrency operation. However, it requires the corresponding wallet or APP to provide support for ENS, so it needs to be bound with traditional domain names such as .com/.io/.org. Previously, most of the users of traditional domain names were businesses, but now a significant portion of cryptocurrency users may want to purchase a traditional domain name that can be easily memorized to bind their chain wallets, and the domain name industry is expected to explode.
[Cross-sectional comparison of competing products]
Currently, in the protocol of decentralized domain name and account system, there are several projects such as Ethereum Name Service (ENS), DAS, FIO, etc. They each have their own characteristics:
1. ENS has the widest application
It is widely integrated in mainstream wallets, DAPPs and browsers
2. DAS has the best interoperability
DAS is short for Decentralized Account Systems. It uses Nervos as the infrastructure of the system. Users can use the private key of any public chain to register and manage DAS, hence DAS has excellent interoperability. DAS supports several mainstream wallets and the number of wallets supported is, at present, second only to ENS.
3. FIO has a higher performance, but is less secure
FIO is short for Foundation for Interwallet Operability. It is a decentralized account system focused on cooperation with wallets, which is its most important partner. FIO wishes to become an entry-level application for cryptocurrencies. FIO launched its own blockchain network based on the dPoS consensus, which serves an advantage for it to demonstrate high performance, but may also become a disadvantage to its security.
II. ENS Airdrop
On November 3, ENS officially announced the issuance of governance tokens and opened applications for DAO members to promote the decentralization development of the project. ENS has completed the domain snapshot on November 1, and the airdrop will be officially opened for claim on November 8. A deadline is set for this airdrop claim. Users must claim the airdrop by May 4, 2022, or it will be transferred to the DAO vault.
Tokenomics
The total number of ENS issued is 100 million tokens. The distribution is as follows:
25% airdrop to users
25% to be allocated to core contributors and advisors, mainly individuals and teams who contributed early on, and hundreds of Discord users
50% will be allocated to the DAO Community Vault.
Airdrop Allocation Rules
The airdrop will be assigned to registered addresses of “.eth” secondary domain names that have been registered before or are currently valid. The weight of the airdrop will be calculated mainly according to the account rather than the number of domains. The formula is 0.27 multiplied by the number of days the user holds at least 1 ENS domain name, and then plus 0.067 multiplied by the number of days until the domain name expires (up to 8 years). The above result will be multiplied by 2 if the account is additionally set up with reverse resolution.
Allocation Rules Analysis
1. For normal users, their account generally has only one domain name. In the allocation rules, only those who speculate on domain names will hoard multiple domain names. Airdrop weight is calculated mainly by account rather than the number of domain names, which greatly weakened the weight of speculators.
2. The user has to pay a fee for each day he holds ENS. The formula in the allocation rules is 0.27 times the number of days the user holds at least 1 ENS domain name. These requirements are more favorable to real users from the early days, for they can get the proportion of allocated airdrop for every day they have held ENS.
3. Some users buy long-term domain names. Consequently, there are still unexpired days until the airdrop claim date, and in accordance with the requirements in the allocation rules, they are compensated with the additional addition of 0.067 multiplied by the number of days until the domain name expires (up to 8 years), which increases the weight of real users.
4. If the account is additionally set up with reverse resolution, the above result will be multiplied by 2.
Reverse resolution, which is the mapping of Address to Name, is only applied once for each account. Generally, only the real users of the domain name will set the reverse resolution. Deal-hunters or domain name hoarders will not set reverse resolution, as it further increases the weight of the real user, thus weakening the weight of speculators.
III. Conclusion
The “interactive airdrop” led by Uniswap and dYdX has brought about rounds of sudden explosive gains for deal-hunters, but such rough airdrop rules are less friendly to the project ecosystem and its real users. ENS uses its own characteristics to screen real users and give airdrop to the real users of domain names as much as possible. This relatively fair airdrop greatly decreased the space for the deal-hunters and speculators, showing a great example of airdrops in the crypto field.
