Ethereum Name Service (CCC:ENS-USD) offers those people who have set up a domain name with Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD) Name Service to gain a free ENS token. This token gives ENS domain holders the ability to participate in the governance of the ENS crypto.
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Right now there are enough ENS crypto tokens out there to produce a market cap of $840 million. Based on the latest data from the ENS.domain site, there are now 552,000 names and 227,000 owners.
This is like when the internet first started. You can buy and create a domain in the ENS site with “.ETH” after the name, as opposed to “.com.”
The ENS crypto is available to anyone who creates an ENS domain name and you have until 4 May 2022 to claim your token.
To do this, you must first set up a Metamask or other wallet. Then go to ENS.domain and pay the fee for the domain, which is renewable annually or whatever number of years you designate. There is also an interesting article on Medium that walks you through how to set up your own ENS domain.
What This Means for Ethereum Name Service Crypto
Once the cutoff for the Ethereum Name Service crypto tokens is passed, there will clearly be a limited number of tokens. At that point, the ENS crypto value can be determined for the long term.
In addition, the ENS token will be used to vote on a proposed constitution and govern protocol parameters for the ENS community.
This is essentially an ongoing “airdrop” for ENS domain holders. As such, the ENS crypto holders can essentially retain some value in the ENS crypto token offsetting the cost of setting up and maintaining their Etheruem Name Service domain.
Moreover, some people are now trading the ENS domains on the Opensea NFT (non-fungible tokens) exchange. So if you find some domain name no one yet owns you might be able to sell it on Opensea.
What ENS Crypto is Worth
Right now ENS crypto trades for $41.52, as of Dec. 17, 2021. This is down significantly from its recent peak of $81.69 on Nov. 27.
So the ENS crypto price is fairly volatile. I suspect that after May 4, 2022, the price will firm up substantially. The reason is simple. The airdrop will stop then, and the supply of ENS tokens will be set and limited.
So this provides an interesting buy entry point for investors. You can either pay the money to buy a domain name and get your free ENS token allocation, or you can invest in the tokens.
Based on Coinmarketcap.com’s analysis of where the ENS crypto tokens trade, the easiest way to buy ENS crypto is on the Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) exchange. That is because you can pay directly in dollars and do not have to buy some other cryptocurrency first.
The value of the ENS crypto token won’t be clear until after the May 2022 cutoff point. Then we will know exactly how many tokens are outstanding.
There could be ongoing value for owning ENS tokens. The crypto token gives a vote on how the whole ENS system works.
This all sort of reminds me of when the internet first started and everyone was buying up the most original domain names they could think of. The same thing is happening now with “.ETH” domains. The good news you can get value for your investment by claiming an ENS crypto token before May 4, 2022.
On the date of publication, Mark Hake did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Mark Hake writes about personal finance at mrhake.medium.com and Newsbreak.com and runs the Total Yield Value Guide which you can review here.
