Are 3-4 character prices too high?

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intro

GM GM!

Some quick notes from the big stories of the week:

  • Pretty slow week in ENS, relatively speaking

  • That should change for next week, as EthDenver is going on now, where much of the ENS DAO team is. I’ll be able to report back on what I learned in next week’s edition. Twitter too, so follow me there, @tjlarkin23

  • LedgerStatus, co-host of the massively popular crypto podcast UpOnly and founder of flip.xyz, did a Twitter Spaces with @Sadaf_eth from the ENS DAO.

    • LedgerStatus is a huge ENS fan and went into this in detail in the show, including that he’s been into it since 2019, which is super early.

    • flip.xyz is doing some really interesting things, like enabling users to stack filters and get ultra-refined ENS searches, and more.

    • Highly recommend checking the site out; it’s pretty slick

  • Jack Butcher paying 20eth for checks.eth is the big story of the week

    • As fpv.eth points out below in the Tweets section, Unstoppable Domains charges close to that amount directly for all their TLD variants. Proving exactly why there is zero excitement around their naming system

  • Coinbase announcing their layer 2 chain Base is hugely positive news for Ethereum. Which means it’s huge for ENS as well. You love to see it.

On to our main story!

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ens-this-week

Short and Sweet, or Overpriced?

The Ongoing Discussion of ENS Name Pricing

By: Crystal Zurn - @crystalzurn

A topic that has been debated at length this week on social media is the pricing structure of ENS name registration and renewals.

For the uninitiated, a 3-character ENS name costs $640/year, 4-character names cost $160/year, and any ENS name with 5-characters or more cost $5/year.

Put simply, you could either purchase 128 five-plus character names, OR just a single 3-character name. Which would you choose?

Support for the Current Pricing

Let's consider the reasons why the ENS team priced these names the way they did. What benefits are there to pricing them significantly higher than 5+ character names?

1. Prevent "squatting": A higher entry price discourages those whose sole intention is to hold and then sell it for a profit.

2. Fund the DAO for operational costs and build a treasury.

3. Basic economics of supply and demand: 3-character and 4-character names are fixed-supply assets, and therefore, more desirable.

Unintended Consequences

I believe that the ENS team has succeeded in preventing squatting and also funding their DAO, but there are always unintended consequences. For example:

1. High prices are a barrier to entry. If the overarching goal of the ENS community is to increase ENS name adoption and use for the masses, then the steep price for these names is definitely a deterrent. Many normies may want their initials, but they won't pony up $640/year for it.

2. The ENS team could be leaving money on the table. Consider how many domains are currently unregistered because of the high cost. Perhaps by lowering the price, they would actually increase their total revenue.

An example of a gTLD that priced itself out of the mainstream market is .cars. Registration and renewal fees are $3,000/year, which has essentially killed it before it even had a chance to catch on.

Where Do We Go From Here?

There is a very open and active discussion going on right now amongst ENS DAO members debating the pros and cons of a price change. Lowering the fees would be a smart marketing move and a way to encourage newcomers to dip their toes in the .eth pool at a reasonable price. But would that decision signal to the high-end investors that 3- and 4-character names are really not as coveted as they were led to believe?

What other options are there? Should the ENS DAO implement sporting event-style "dynamic" pricing instead? Reply to this email or catch us on Twitter and tell us your thoughts.

For more analysis on the subject, check TJ’s thread from yesterday:

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Featured domain
  • 6-character surname

  • 16k people listed on Forebears.io, most in France

  • 7,100 listed on LinkedIn

  • This is my domain, not getting good ones shilled recently

  • Make sure you’re replying to this email with good domains to feature, or respond on twitter to @tjlarkin23 or @ens_hq

  • Buy it here on ens.vision 

0.10eth ($162)

top tweets

Make sure you’re checking the ENS HQ website every day for the best tweets!

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@brommhill is the community member of the week!

  • An extremely active member of the ENS community

  • He’s done a killer job onboarding people into the space, especially around emojis

  • While I don’t completely agree with his emoji thesis, he’s respectful to have debates with and is not unreasonable when it comes to some of the potential issues with emoji domains

  • The ENS community is better off having people like Brommhill in it who are willing to stick their necks out for a unique concept while also acknowledging the potential downsides in a reasonable manner.

  • Keep up the good work, buddy!

Check out his Twitter page here: @brommhill 

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nft-of-the-week

Super Puma

Super PUMA

  • Legit Web2 brand that owns their ENS name, puma.eth

  • The website, blackstation.puma.com is incredible. This is not a thrown together project

  • The NFT art is based on a 1970’s mascot of Puma

  • Will have exclusive drops from the brand + POAPs

  • The floor is currently at 0.19eth or $315

  • Check it out on Opensea

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meme-of-the-week
podcast

Episode 11: Part 2-Analyzing Matt Higgins Twitter Spaces

  • Mike and TJ go over the second half of Matt Higgins Twitter Spaces call

  • TJ takes many of Matt’s thoughts and expands into more detail on what exact he means and other potential use cases

  • TJ discusses the one thing Matt said that he disagrees with

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For you newbies who want to learn what all the hype with ENS is about but don't know where to start, check out our free Intro to ENS course on Gumroad.

ENS HQ Newsletter is written by:

TJ Larkin - @tjlarkin23
Crystal Zurn - @crystalzurn

If you liked this newsletter, you’ll also like my friends:
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  • Decentra Daily - Daily NFT newsletter to keep you up to speed on the entire NFT market

PS. If you want a chance to have your domain featured in this newsletter, respond to this email with your BEST (only one) domain at the absolute lowest price you'd let it go. The more reasonable the price, the higher likelihood we'll feature it. If it needs an explanation of why it's valuable, write no more than three bullet points as to why it's valuable.