ENS Labs, the company behind the open-source blockchain naming protocol, Ethereum Name Service, is collaborating with Dentity, a leading digital identity provider, to integrate verifiable credentials on-chain.
The new integration allows ENS users to link their on-chain identity with their real-world identity, giving them the power to decide the scope of the information they share, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday.
The development could have far-reaching implications for the future of online identity. ENS users can maintain control over publicly accessible personally identifiable information while ensuring that no such information is stored on-chain.
Khori Whittaker, Executive Director of ENS Labs, noted how the two companies are attempting to bridge the gap between off-chain and on-chain identities by enabling users to have one true digital identity.
“Together with Dentity, ENS is broadening the capabilities of Web3 naming, making on-chain identities real and usable across various applications,” Whittaker said. “By linking real-world identities with on-chain personas, Web3 users can own a verified identity to access real-world services without compromising on decentralization.”
You Can Now Use Your .Com Domain as Your Ethereum Address With GoDaddy and ENS
Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains are different from traditional Domain Name System (DNS) website domains. ENS domains can be assigned to an Ethereum wallet to ease the hassle of sending funds and assets, as they're much easlier to remember than a typical alphanumeric wallet address. But typical web browsers can’t do much with them. The two are getting closer together, though, thanks to a new alliance between ENS and GoDaddy. The web domain registrar just linked up with ENS to make it possible...
Similarly, Dentity users can now connect their identity credentials to their ENS domain using the newly developed integration pathway.
Jeffrey Schwartz, the Founder and CEO of Dentity, remarked that "the next billion blockchain users won’t be crypto natives, and they likely won’t even know they’re on-chain."
He elaborated that these users will utilize services that require real-world identity verification, such as accessing educational credentials, professional licenses, and healthcare records.
"Sophisticated DeFi or traditional financial services will need real-world identity verification, as they exceed what anonymous or pseudonymous blockchain transactions can offer," Schwartz said per the statement.
By linking digital and physical identities, this integration could help facilitate the adoption of Web3 technologies across various sectors.
Ethereum Name Service Registrations Spike 216% in One Week
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) saw registrations spike over the weekend, with 64,000 .eth names created on Sunday and Monday alone. In the past week, 108,000 ENS domains were registered. This 216% increase, revealed in data published by lead ENS developer Nick Johnson, brought a notable spike in revenue. On Sunday, the ENS made $684,000—a half a million dollar increase compared to the previous day. The ENS manages the issuance and renewal of .eth domain names, which are built on Ethereum, sold...
Roughly 14,997 .eth names were registered in July, marking a 25.5% decrease from the 20,131 registrations recorded in June, on-chain data shows.
The registration count also represents a 48% decline from the May peak of 28,949 registrations.
The dip in registrations underscores the importance of initiatives like the ENS-Dentity partnership by attempting to boost the appeal of ENS domains to a wider user base.
On Monday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin registered a new Ethereum Name Service domain named “dacc.eth” for 0.187 ETH, worth approximately $500.
The move precedes Buterin’s upcoming discussion on “defensive accelerationism” at an X Spaces discovery event slated for August 22.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
