Coinbase CEO loves ENS!

GM GM!

Some quick notes from the big stories of the week:

• Brian Armstrong, the founder of Coinbase, went on a podcast and discussed how much he believes in the future of decentralized identity, and explicitly stated his love for ENS for this purpose. Another massive endorsement from a very powerful and influential figure in the crypto space.

• Gutter Cat Gang, an OG 10k PFP collection, with a current floor price of 1.25eth, become the second PFP project to offer ENS subdomains to it’s holders. They own gcg.eth, so holders can get name.gcg.eth to show their membership and support of the NFT project. The first project to do this was Purrnelopes Country Club, with pcc.eth.

• Great first and last names frequently coming up on expiry and going all the way to zero premium or sub $100 premium. I picked up Zahoor.eth for $25 in premium, with 225k people. Also picked up jialiang.eth for $0 premium, with 300k people! Use ens.tools and do your research. Can be time-consuming, but worth it.

• Unstoppable Domains is now officially charging an annual fee of $4-$10 per domain if you don’t move your domain to your own wallet. So it’s still free if you hold it in your own wallet, but now about the same or more than ENS to hold it with them. Which is a big deal for most of their customers, since they market frequently to non Web3 native people who thought they could just pay with their credit card and own the domain forever with no fees. Just another reason you don’t want your Web3 identity to be with a centralized company whose number one goal is more profit.

• Meta bailed on NFTs; for now. I think this just comes down to needing to spend the money and resources on what is going to pay off for them in the short term. The world is now in a liquidity crunch, and they can’t put resources on long-term projects like this. I’m sure they’re fully prepared to jump right back in as soon as NFTs become mainstream.

• Forbes put out another article about ENS, called How Ethereum is Shaping Global Identity, which hasn’t happened in a while. Love to see it! Check it out here.

• Not ENS related, but the banking crisis of the last week has been incredible to see. And also very scary. Yet it is exactly the problem that caused Bitcoin to be created during the last banking crisis. Everything crypto people have been saying about the banking system and fiat currencies is coming true in real time now. While I don’t expect everyone in the US to all of sudden love crypto, it is definitely opening people’s eyes to the risk of the current system, and to start paying closer attention to the obvious alternative. And once they enter this system, getting their ENS is an obvious next step.

ENS HQ Investment DAO update:

We are officially taking submissions for the DAO. Quick reminder; if you have names that have long-term value, but you can’t or don’t want to renew it, you can send them to us; we will renew them for multiple years, and if/when it sells, we will give you 25% of the sales price!

Here is the link to the form: https://tally.so/r/wL9YRj

Here is my thread with more details. If you still have questions that aren’t answered by the FAQ on the form or in the thread, feel free to respond there or just respond to this email.

On to our main story!

Brian Armstrong + ENS = Mainstream Adoption

By: Crystal Zurn

Today I want to highlight Brian Armstrong, who as the CEO of Coinbase, has been a vocal supporter of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and the future of decentralized finance. In recent years, ENS has emerged as a critical infrastructure for the decentralized web, enabling users to register human-readable names for Ethereum addresses, making it easier to send and receive money, amongst other uses.

Armstrong has been a supporter of ENS since its inception and has been instrumental in promoting its adoption. In a blog post in 2019, he highlighted the potential of ENS to simplify the user experience of sending and receiving cryptocurrencies. He also announced that Coinbase would be integrating with ENS, enabling users to easily send and receive funds using human-readable names.

“I believe that ENS and other identity systems like it will be a key part of building a user-friendly decentralized web that is accessible to everyone.”

– Brian Armstrong in an interview with Decrypt in 2020

Armstrong's support for ENS goes beyond just his company's integration. He has also invested in the ENS ecosystem, backing the development of new tools and services that leverage ENS.

In addition to his support for ENS, Armstrong has also been an advocate for the broader potential of decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain technology. He believes that decentralized systems will transform the financial industry, making it more accessible and transparent.

Armstrong's vision for the future of the space includes the development of new DeFi protocols that can scale to support millions of users. He has also called for greater collaboration between industry players to build the infrastructure needed to support a decentralized financial system.

With Coinbase’s audience of over 102 million verified users plus Brian Armstrong's support for the Ethereum Name Service and desire for a future of decentralized finance, he plays a critical part in driving the adoption of blockchain technology.

As the space continues to evolve, it is likely that we will see more industry players follow in his footsteps, promoting innovation and collaboration to build a more decentralized financial system. You love to see it!

Here is his most recent podcast interview where he discusses his appreciation for the ENS ecosystem:

• 5-character surname, forename and nickname

• 11k people listed on Forebears.io

• 21k listed on LinkedIn!

• It’s also a village in Estonia

• 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  

0.19eth ($331)

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

enshq.xyz

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

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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.