ENS DAO Newsletter

Issue #35 - 05/15/2023

👋🏻 Hello!

Hello and welcome to the Ethereum Name Service DAO Newsletter!

New editions are published on the 1st and 15th of every month.

This newsletter is available on the ENS DAO Governance Forum and Substack.

We encourage any feedback, questions, or comments!

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📰 Newsletter Round Up

🔔 Reminders:

• Our entire archive is now available to view in its own section on the forum.

• Our homepage is hosted on IPFS at ensdaonews.eth.limo or ensnews.eth.limo.

• A complete archive of our previous editions is available to read on the governance forum.

• Links to translated editions can be found on our website.

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🚨 Updates:

• Newsletter Extra: Reviewing the V3 ENS Manager App by @estmcmxci

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🗓️ ENS Calendar

For the most up-to-date schedule of events, refer to the ENS Calendar. Any other sources are not guaranteed to be accurate.

• ENS DAO Q1/Q2 2023 Dashboard

• Calendar: Public Access

• Calendar: Access with Gmail

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🏁 Current Events

Public Goods Large Grants:

The Public Goods Working Group is offering a Large Grants opportunity that provides up to 50k USDC to Ethereum or web3 public good projects with a proven track record of making an impact. To be eligible, a project must have been active for at least a year and not have raised more than 500k in prior funding. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis — the “short round” commenced on May 5th.

• Key Dates:

  • Short round submissions: May 5th – 25th

  • Review/voting process: June 1st – 8th

  • Grants awarded: June 15th

  • Rolling submission beings: July 1st

• Apply now:

  • Application form

  • Large Grants FAQ

  • Provide feedback

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🚩 Upcoming Events

• Q2 Town Hall: June 29th (tentative)

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Shibuya Meetup:

On June 8th, CryptoBase and ENS Domains will host a meetup in Shibuya, Tokyo. The meet up is an opportunity for local web3 projects to participate in lightning talks, with a preference for those that integrate with ENS. The hosts may distribute ENS cards that have the ability to mint POAPs.

More info here.

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🗳️ Recent Proposals

• (Passed) [EP3.6][Social] Election of new ENS Foundation director

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Upcoming Proposals:

• ENS Name Normalization Standard (Open)

• ENS Invalid Name Refund Proposal (Open)

For details on the ENS DAO proposal process see our Governance Docs

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🌀 ENS Labs Updates

ENS Celebrates its Sixth Anniversary (Claim a special POAP!)

May the fourth marks ENS’ anniversary; launched in 2017 by a devoted few, it has since grown to become one of the biggest projects in “the space”. To celebrate, @Limes interviewed @nick.eth on an ENS DAO space. A space was hosted by ENS as well. To encourage adoption, ENS is offering an ENS Anniversary POAP through the end of this month to holders of ENS names who have set their text and avatar records. Visit the site to claim yours now.

For greater context on the accomplishments of the DAO, its ecosystem and ENS Labs, check out @dr3a.eth’s giga-thread which covers all of the past year’s milestones at length.

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New Record for Avatars

ENS recently achieved a new all-time-high for the number of avatars set in a day, despite the bear market and high gas prices. It seems like the surge in avatars was largely due to the special edition POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol) that ENS issued to celebrate its 6th anniversary. It’s possible that the POAP was a significant motivating factor for users to set their ENS avatars and participate in the celebration, ultimately resulting in the new record.

Source: Limes.eth Dune dashboard

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New Foundation Director Appointed

The voting period for EP3.6 has ended, and the DAO has elected Alex Van de Sande (@avsa) as a new director of the ENS Foundation. Alex’s appointment as a director is subject to KYC checks by Walkers Corporate Limited.

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Dashboard Updated

@Nick.eth updated the ENS dashboard on May 12th to include registration and renewal stats from the newly deployed controller and name wrapper. The updated dashboard can be viewed here.

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ENS’ Next Generation is here

Earlier in April, ENS announced the launch of the third version of their ENS app on Mainnet. @taytems writes that the update promises significant improvements in speed, design, and user experience, with new features and enhancements that have been meticulously revamped from the ground up to optimize both user and developer experiences. The changes not only make the app more enjoyable to use but also enable quicker rollout of new features. The new version is available for use at ens.app.

• Read about ENS Appv3

• Watch the ENS Name Wrapper explainer video

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Public Relations and Marketing

ENS Labs reported on their PR and marketing activities for April 2023. The team is working with FTF on marketing campaigns promoting their new manager, name wrapper, and MoonPay integration, with social media posts and email blasts to support these efforts. They also made the decision not to direct people to the old manager due to an unfavorable user experience. On the PR front, despite challenges posed by the crypto-winter and the FTX scandal, ENS had many wins overall in April. They shared a report on their PR coverage for the month and noted that the bi-monthly ENS DAO Newsletter offers comprehensive coverage of their activities.

• Read about ENS’ PR and Marketing

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ENS Spaces

ENS Core team members hosted several spaces throughout the fortweek, listen to the conversations:

• ENS celebrates its sixth anniversary

• Community: Name Wrapper and V3 Q&A

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🌱 ENS Grants Highlights

Ecosystem Grants

The ENS Ecosystem Working Group is expanding their grants program to be more formalized; projects can now submit proposals on a rolling basis. Grants distributed are between $2k to $50k; Ecosystem stewards will review grant applications on a rolling basis, taking 1-4 weeks to evaluate each application. If your project is approved, a KYC process will be conducted before the funds are distributed. Apply for an Ecosystem Grant now.

Public Goods Grants

1. Growth Grants:

The Growth Grants application period has closed, and the stewards are reviewing the 35 submissions. The winners will be announced on May 18th. Growth Grants are intended to fund early-stage projects and are awarded up to 10 ETH. KYC (Know Your Customer) is being considered for the distribution of both Growth Grants and Large Grants. Further details will be provided later. Provide feedback through this form.

2. Large Grants:

The application process for Large Grants is now open and will remain open from May 5th to May 25th. Large Grants are intended for more established projects that need significant funding. They are awarded up to 50 ETH. The link to the Notion page for applications is available now, and interested parties can review it.

3. Small Grants:

There is a proposal to delay the next Small Grants rounds until the winners of Growth Grants have been announced. The tentative date for commencing the round is May 22nd. Small Grants are intended to fund ongoing projects and are awarded up to 1 ETH. Additionally, there is a proposal to combine the May and June Small Grants rounds and offer a total of 1ETH to ten projects instead of five.

These kind of rounds have been ongoing for around eight months. There will be a retrospective of these grants in the second week of June to evaluate what worked, what didn’t work, and what was effective, among other things. The findings will be shared in the WG meeting and the Q2 Town hall, which will take place on June 29th.

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🌐 Community Updates

NFTY Chat Giveaway

Nftychat by @slobo.eth is a community where all usernames are ENS names or wallet addresses. However, ENS names cost money, which means that 66% of their 12k community members don’t have one. To address this issue, anyone can now claim a free ENS name on nftychat through an active giveaway in their lounge or by sending a message to nftychat.eth. The new usernames come with cool perks, and setting your Github, Twitter, and avatar on nftychat will also set them on your ENS profile page without any cost or gas. The .nfty.eth names automatically show up wherever ENS is fully integrated. Once you claim your new name, it will work with Metamask. Additionally, communities can host their own giveaways on nftychat.

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ENS x Worldcoin Explainoor

Worldcoin and ENS are working together to transform digital identity and global finance. Worldcoin has launched the World App, which allows users worldwide to authenticate their digital identity, claim Worldcoin tokens, and send digital money with ease. The app is largely powered by Ethereum and ENS, allowing for easier transactions with ENS, and users can maintain self-custodial control over their identity and wallet keys. Worldcoin provides users with World ID, a digital identity that proves their real and unique existence while ensuring complete privacy. The Worldcoin Token is globally and freely distributed to individuals, promoting financial inclusivity on a global scale. With ENS, this adds an additional layer of authenticity and ensures that individuals can confidently engage in online activities while having their identities securely validated. Together, Worldcoin and ENS are reshaping the world of finance, allowing access for everyone, regardless of their background, and creating a future where digital identities are trusted, privacy is respected, and financial opportunities are open to all.

Thanks to @dr3a.eth for breaking it down for us.

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ENS Name Lifecycle

0xashu made a video about the lifecycle of ENS domains, with the help of support.ens.domains. They thanked their frens @cthulu.eth, @zadok7, and @serenae for their easy-to-understand documentation, and @184.eth’s YouTube channel for motivation .

Watch it now.

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ENS Guide (ENS LLM)

A custom natural language model was trained to make it simpler to understand ENS documentation. You can ask anything about ENS using this model, just tag @ensguide after writing a question on Twitter.

ENS can sometimes be hard to understand.

To make it simpler, we trained a custom natural language model on the ENS documentation and @nicksdjohnson! (sorry Nick)

Ask it anything about ENS!@ensguide what is the difference between the resolver and the controller address? pic.twitter.com/o5QmmyTmup

— kodex.eth (@kodex_io) May 5, 2023

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NFT Resolver

NFTResolver by @raffy is an open registry contract that maps labels to ERC-721 contracts. Once a label is registered, it accepts various formats and resolves to the NFT owner’s address, with the NFT serving as the avatar and the primary ENS of the owner serving as the name. The metadata serves as the URL, and the NFT name serves as the description. The contract is not bound to nft-owner.eth, and any name that sets NFTResolver as its resolver can gain these features. Labels cannot start or end with a number or a hyphen. The cost of registering a label is 0.05e. The contract can be registered under multiple labels, works with any ERC-721 contract, and has a bunch of helper functions.

Read more here.

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Unlocking ENS Text Records

@misharik.eth discussed the potential of ENS Text Records for innovation and notes that only a small percentage of ENS holders currently use them due to lack of user-friendly infrastructure and high gas fees. They introduced the Tillies platform, which aims to standardize and categorize Text Records, enhance discoverability, and streamline the creation and management process. The platform will offer off-chain text records stored on IPFS linked to ENS domains, allowing for easy changes and accessibility through Tillies. The goal is to facilitate the formation of interest-based DAOs/Clubs, curate Web3 content, and support brands and communities in the Web3 space. The author welcomes feedback on the project.

Read more here.

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⚙️ Integrations

Farcaster x ENS

Dan Romero is working on Farcaster, a sufficiently decentralized social network. They are exploring the idea of adding native ENS resolution as a primary feature in Farcaster Hubs; builders are encouraged to reach out to Dan directly either through Github or via twitter.

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PancakeSwap x ENS

ENS names now resolve on PancakeSwap.

📢 We are proud to announce an integration with @ensdomains!

🏷️ >690k users can now view their .eth domains on Ethereum PancakeSwap

👉 Check it out under “Wallet” or “Your Profile” in the top-right corner here: https://t.co/yqaHeMnpbw pic.twitter.com/sE0F0kIHV9

— PancakeSwap🥞Ev3ryone's Favourite D3X (@PancakeSwap) May 11, 2023

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Uniswap x ENS

Uniswap is utilizing immutable records stored on Ethereum to link their official deployment contracts to their ENS name/subname.

👀 @Uniswap is using immutable on-chain records of their #ENS name/subname to point to their official deployment contracts. 💪 pic.twitter.com/yaDpHCukLK

— ens.eth (@ensdomains) May 12, 2023

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World App x ENS

World App is the first wallet for the Worldcoin ecosystem, designed to provide a private digital identity and a new financial system to everyone. It allows users to authenticate with World ID to prove their identity, claim Worldcoin grants, save and send digital money, and explore and use cryptocurrencies. World ID is stored locally on a user’s smartphone and does not require any personal information. World App uses Ethereum’s composability to mix and match open protocols and APIs to provide a global identity and finance app. The app is designed to maximize inclusivity and support most active smartphones in the world. World App has already been pre-released to 1.5 million people and is globally available for the first time.

World App’s peer-to-peer payments support ENS names for friendlier ERC-20 transfers. ENS usernames are like domain names for Ethereum addresses, allowing users to create easy-to-remember names instead of long, complex wallet addresses. This makes it easier for people to send and receive cryptocurrency, as they can simply use a friend’s ENS username instead of typing in a long string of characters.

Read more about it here.

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🗞️ Working Group News

For Q1/Q2 2023, the lead stewards for each working group are:

• Meta-Governance – @katherinewu

• ENS Ecosystem – @slobo.eth

• Public Goods – @Coltron.eth

The responsibilities of lead stewards are set out in Rule 8.7 of the Working Group Rules.

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ENS DAO Working Group Schedule (Q1/Q2 2023):

• Meta-Governance; Weekly on Tuesday at 3pm UTC (Google Meet)

• ENS Ecosystem; Weekly on Thursday at 4pm UTC (Google Meet)

• Public Goods; Weekly on Thursday at 5pm UTC (Google Meet)

Note: Due to ENS’ anniversary on May 4th, meeting times occurred on alternative days.

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⚖️ Meta-Governance

The Meta-Governance working group hosted its weekly meetings on May 2nd and May 9th:

• Minutes for Weekly Meta-Gov Meeting, May 2nd, 2023 @ 3pm UTC

• Minutes for Weekly Meta-Gov Meeting, May 9th, 2023 @ 3pm UTC

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Financial Reporting:

• Steakhouse Financial Report: April 2023

• Endowment Weekly Report

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🔄 Ecosystem

The Ecosystem working group hosted its weekly meetings on May 3rd and May 11th:

• Minutes for Weekly Ecosystem Meeting, May 3rd, 2023 @ 4PM UTC

• Minutes for Weekly Ecosystem Meeting, May 11th, 2023 @ 4PM UTC

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Core Updates:

• ENS Labs has released a Rust library for ENS: Ethers RS.

• New features added to V3, including the ability to unwrap ENS names.

• ENS Labs will switch from using Google Forms to DeForm, a web3 native alternative, for collecting feedback.

• Re: Gasless DNSSEC, the audit has been completed. Fortunately, no major issues.

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ENS DAO Proposals:

• ENS Invalid Name Refund Proposal

• ENSIP-14: Platform Source Parameter: Discussion

• Off-chain Name Meta Resolution

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✅ Public Goods

The Public Goods working group hosted its weekly meetings on May 4th and May 11th:

• Minutes for Weekly Public Goods Meeting, May 5th, 2023 @ 5PM UTC

• Minutes for Weekly Public Goods Meeting, May 11th, 2023 @ 5PM UTC

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🔒 Security Tip

Check out this helpful thread for information about some of the latest scams, and ways that you can protect yourself.

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🔒 Get Involved

1. Fundamentals:

• ENS DAO Basics

• Support Docs

2. Governance:

• Governance Docs

• ENS Agora

3. Discuss:

• Governance Forum

• Discord

4. Contact:

• Q1/Q2 2023 Term Dashboard

• ENS DAO and ENS DAO Newsletter on Twitter

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Thank you very much for reading! Take care. 👋🏻