ENS token surges 70% as Vitalik Buterin lauds platform as ‘super important’

The governance token of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) surged by 72% on Jan. 3 after the domain platform received praise from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

In a Jan. 3 post to X (formerly Twitter), Buterin lauded the Ethereum Name Service as “super important” and reiterated that the platform should remain accessible and affordable to all users of the Ethereum network, especially those on layer-2 networks.

All L2s should be working on (trustless, merkle-proof-based) CCIP resolvers, so that we can have ENS subdomains registerable, updateable and readable directly on L2s.

ENS is super-important, it needs to be affordable!https://t.co/Ice1lTttFE

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 3, 2024

“All L2s should be working on (trustless, merkle-proof-based) CCIP resolvers, so that we can have ENS subdomains registerable, updateable and readable directly on L2s,” said Buterin.

Buterin believes that layer-2 networks such as Optimism, Arbitrum and Polygon — which form an essential part of the Ethereum networks’ long-term scalability — should be able to register ENS addresses to further their ease of use.

Shortly following Buterin’s X post, the price of the ENS token surged from a yearly low of $8.50, climbing more than 72% to reach an eight-month high of $14.70, per CoinMarketCap data. The price of ENS has since leveled out and is currently trading at $12.90 at the time of publication.

ENS notched an all-time high of $74.25 on Nov. 28, 2021, around the same time the broader crypto market began to tumble and rapidly descended into an enduring industry-wide bear market.

Related: ENS developers urge Unstoppable Domains to drop patents or face lawsuit

The Ethereum Name Service allows crypto users to purchase a “.eth” domain name. This can replace the complex string of letters and numbers that typically comprise a user’s wallet address, making it easier to transfer and receive funds between parties on the Ethereum network.

In September 2022, Buterin proposed introducing a 3% tax on ENS domain names, dubbed the “Harberger” tax proposal. Buterin said this would prevent the hoarding of domain names among early users looking to maximize profits, enabling wider adoption and more decentralized ownership of ENS addresses.

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