GoDaddy to charge $0 for ENS .eth name pairing

Domain registrars GoDaddy and Ethereum Name Service signed a partnership that will allow users to link Web3-based .eth domains to DNS top-level domains at no cost.

A partnership between Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and domain registrar GoDaddy will allow the Web3 community to link their .eth names (domains) to traditional Web2 domains at no extra cost.

As a decentralized domain name system (DNS), ENS .eth domains allow users to register domain names on Web3, simplifying complex wallet addresses into human-readable names, among other features. With GoDaddy onboard, Web3 users can now link their .eth domains with traditional URLs at no extra cost.

The GoDaddy-ENS partnership eliminates the barrier of high gas fees that previously demotivated users from bringing domain names over to ENS. Paul Nicks, president of domains at GoDaddy, highlighted the development as “the fusion of domain names and blockchain technologies,” which benefits the Web2 and Web3 ecosystems.

According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, ENS enabled the cost-free transition by deploying new smart contracts for the resolution process. As a result, DNS domain holders can realize a new form of self-sovereignty by having greater control over their own decentralized identities.

Related: Ethereum Name Service adds fiat payments for ENS domain registrations

In July 2023, GoDaddy’s Web3 competitor Unstoppable Domains allowed users to buy .eth names with added payment methods and functionality to streamline the management of ENS domains.

All .eth domains purchased from Unstoppable get registered through the ENS smart contract and have the same functionality as those registered directly through ENS.

.eth is coming to Unstoppable.

Unstoppable is now your one-stop shop for Web3 domains. Buy and manage your .eth, .nft, or .x domains all in one place.

Better yet? We’re introducing new functionality that makes buying .eth domains easier and more seamless.

pic.twitter.com/lKB5yNwuD7

— unstoppable.x (@unstoppableweb) July 17, 2023

In November 2023, ENS developers went against an Unstoppable Domains patent, which claimed that Braden River Pezeshki, Matthew Everett Gould and Bogdan Gusiev are the inventors of a technology that uses blockchain technology to determine domains.

However, ENS developer Nick Johnson said that the patent is “based entirely on innovations that ENS developed and contains no novel innovations of its own.” He argued:

“The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is a distributed, open, and extensible naming system based on the Ethereum blockchain. ENS’s job is to map human-readable names like ‘alice. eth’ to machine-readable identifiers such as Ethereum addresses, other cryptocurrency addresses, content hashes, and metadata.”

In a written response to Cointelegraph, Unstoppable Domains CEO Matthew Gould refuted the claims of stealing ENS’ intellectual property and clarified, “Our filing of 18 patent applications, including the ‘344 patent for ‘Resolving Blockchain Domains,’ are strategic moves to protect our freedom to operate and defend against potential encroachments by large Web2 domain registries.”