ENSv2 Update: What’s Next?

Source: ENS Blog; Compiled by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

I am Esk3nder.eth, the product leader of ENS Labs. I am very happy to introduce you to the ENSv2 plan we announced in May 2024. To briefly review, ENSv2 is our ambitious plan to expand ENS to Layer 2 while reimagining the protocol from scratch. Since 2017, ENS has become a cornerstone of crypto infrastructure, with millions of .eth names and thousands of ecosystem integrations. But ENSv2 is not just about L2 expansion; it also uses seven years of experience and technological advances to make ENS more accessible, decentralized, and more powerful. We hope this update gives you a glimpse into our research process so far, and where we are currently on our ENSv2 L2 scaling journey. As always, we are here to answer any questions and feedback - thank you for your patience and support! Our Research Journey The ENSv2 project began with a fundamental question: “If we reimagined ENS from scratch today, what would it look like?” We began investigating the ecosystem as we were limited by the user experience constraints of the mainnet. We spoke with builders across the space, and after productive discussions both externally and internally within the team, we unanimously agreed to expand ENS to Layer 2.

Over the past few months, we’ve immersed ourselves in the L2 ecosystem, consulting with a wide variety of stakeholders — from L2 teams and RaaS providers to infrastructure companies and early-stage startups. We invited many of them to an “ENS Unconference” during EthCC to discuss the technical hurdles and opportunities for ENSv2. We also uploaded the talk to Youtube for those who want to follow along at home! Throughout this process, we’ve stayed focused on six key criteria (listed below in no particular order) that act as our North Star and help us formalize our process as we explore the Layer 2 landscape.

1. EVM compatibility

2. CCIP read support

3. Open source

4. Exit to L1

5. Sequencer decentralization

6. Finality

Where we stand: three promising options

Okay, let’s get straight to the point! Well, we’ve narrowed our focus down to three main options, in no particular order:

Public ZK Chain

This option involves extending ENS directly onto an existing public ZK chain, such as Scroll and Taiko. Alternatively, we could leverage an Optimistic L2 with ZK proofs, similar to what Succinct recently presented at Frontiers (OP+SP1). This approach requires minimal chain development and long-term maintenance costs, but sacrifices some independence of ENS governance from the public chain.

Our own ZK chain instance

This approach involves deploying our own instance of an existing ZK chain stack. A recent example of this approach is Status’ recent announcement that they are working with Linea to launch their own instance of the Linea stack. This option provides the team with more flexibility while still benefiting from a mature technology. The flip side is the effort of developing, launching, and maintaining a separate L2 instance.

zkVM (Special Purpose Rollups)

This approach involves developing a custom zkVM (zero-knowledge virtual machine) optimized specifically for ENS operations. We are exploring this option in collaboration with Axiom, who are helping us develop a zkVM prototype. By optimizing the VM, you can make the ZK integration more efficient. This reduces the cost of proofs and allows you to generate proofs more frequently, significantly reducing time to finality. However, it represents the biggest departure from our current architecture and requires the most extensive development and migration work.

The Path Not Taken

You may have noticed that there are no purely optimistic chains on our list of options. While chains like Arbitrum and Base currently dominate layer 2 economic activity, demonstrating their product-market fit and proven technology stacks, this omission is intentional and ties into our sixth criterion: finality. Finality in this context refers to an agreed-upon checkpoint where all previous blocks are considered irreversible.

In optimistic rollups, there is no immediate proof of validity when the state is published to the mainnet. This initiates a “challenge window” — typically 7 days — during which the proposed state can be challenged before it is considered final. In contrast, ZK rollups use “ZK proofs” to immediately prove the validity of every transaction that has been executed, batched, and then sent to L1 for final settlement. ZK finality tends to be within 2-24 hours compared to the time of the “challenge window,” which is typically set at 7 days. This rapid finality is critical for ENS to prevent name ownership rollbacks, a principle set out in the ENS DAO charter. For a more in-depth look at the differences between optimistic and ZK rollups, StarkWare has published an excellent explainer.

However, we are not completely dismissing optimistic technology. As seen with our first option, hybrid solutions combining Optimistic chains with ZK proofs are still under consideration. As we continue our research and development, we remain open to innovation across the L2 ecosystem that aligns with our core standards and values.

Next Steps

We have learned a lot over the past few months and would like to thank all the teams and individuals who have contributed to this process. Thanks to their help, we are starting to move from theory to practice, and here are the next steps:

• Benchmarking and Testing:We know our three main paths and will test them for performance, cost-effectiveness, and scalability so that we can use concrete data to guide our decisions.

• Technical Improvements:Our team is working on improvements to the ENSv2 architecture, including a tiered registration system and an updated universal resolver.

• Funding Proposal:To support this critical work, we are preparing a funding proposal for the ENS DAO that will broadly outline the resources required to implement ENSv2.

• Community Engagement:Your input is invaluable as we embark on this journey, and we will continue to host community calls and AMA sessions to gain insight and hear your ideas.

• Final Recommendations:We aim to have a final recommendation for the L2 strategy for ENSv2 in the coming months.