Web3 Name Service is a platform that helps convert difficult-to-remember blockchain addresses by associating them with easy-to-remember domain names.

Overview of Web3 Name Service

To learn what Web3 Name Service is, we first need to understand the concept of DNS.

What is DNS?

DNS is the most widely used system today to manage domain names on the Internet. It is used to map easy-to-remember domain names to the server's IP address. DNS is a file system, which means that domain names are managed by some authorized organization. It can be attacked and interrupted if attacked.

What is the Web3 name service?

Web3 Name Service is a type of system similar to DNS, however it is used in blockchain networks. So how does Web3 Name Service work?

“Web3 Name Service is a platform that helps transform hard-to-memorize address blockchains by associating them with easy-to-remember namespaces.

Every domain name on Name Service is minted as an NFT, ensuring uniqueness and transparency. Users can also check the exact origin and owner of those domain names.

Instead of using long and complicated addresses like "0x09…B7d" to receive payments, they can register a Name Service with the domain name “mywallet.eth” and use them as regular wallet addresses.”

Name Service provides decentralized features, allowing users to have absolute control over their domain names without needing information through any intermediary organization.

Compare Web3 Name Service and DNS

DNS (Domain Name System) and Name Service are two different domain name management systems.

Some key differences between DNS and Name Service include:

• DNS is centralized, while Name Service is decentralized.

• DNS is used for traditional networks, while Name Service is used for blockchain networks.

• DNS can be attacked and disrupted, while Name Service ensures greater security due to its decentralization.

Name Service's development history and outstanding milestones

Below are some outstanding milestones of the Web3 Name Service market:

• May 2017: Ethereum Name Service (ENS) was launched to bring identity to the Ethereum network.

• December 2018: Unstoppable Domains was born with more diverse domain name extensions. However, Unstoppable Domains initially operated on many blockchains, and later oriented its operations on the Polygon network.

• March 2020: Lens Protocol launched with .lens domain name active on Polygon. The highlight of Lens is developing a Dapp ecosystem using .lens.

• July 2021: ENS reached the milestone of 1 million domain names registered on the Ethereum network.

• August 2021: Budweiser - one of the world's largest beer companies buys the beer.eth domain for $100,000.

• October 2021: Ethereum Name Service announces airdrop for previous domain name registrants. The highest ENS capitalization ever reached 1 billion USD.

• Second half of 2021 - early 2022: A series of Name Service projects have been born following trends in other blockchains such as Polkadot, Harmony, Oasis, Cronos, Evmos,...

• April 2022: The domain name game heats up as alphanumeric domain names are sold at high prices,

• May 2022: RTFKT (part of Nike) spends an additional 35,000 USD to acquire more ENS domains in its collection of 10 domain names.

• July 2022: The second largest domain name project in the market is Unstoppable Domains, calling for capital of 65 million USD with a valuation of 1 billion USD from Pantera.

• August 2022: ENS reaches the milestone of 2 million domain names registered on the Ethereum network.

• August 2022: Space ID is the next major domain name to be launched and invested in by Binance Labs. The birth of Space ID has stirred up the domain name market not only on BNB Chain but in the entire market.

• Early 2023: The market is booming with the trend of minting domain names on many different blockchains to hunt for Retroactive tokens of Name Service projects.

• 3/3023: Revenue of Ethereum Name Service reached 38,000 ETH, trading volume on Opensea reached 74,000 ETH.

In addition, on the market there are a series of domain names sold at very high prices. Below are the top 5 highest priced domain names ever recorded: paradigm.eth (2 million USD), pjfi.eth (463,000 USD), 000.eth (317,000 USD), abc.eth (254,000 USD),...

Roles and benefits of Web3 Name Service

Name Service in Web3 has many important benefits and roles, including:

• Make it easier for users to interact with Web3 applications and services.

• Increase security and ensure uniformity in how users interact with blockchain-based services.

• Contribute to the popularity of Web3 by creating a better user experience, thereby increasing the popularity of blockchain technology with the masses.

• Helps the blockchain and Web3 market to personalize and enhance identification when each person, company, and organization can clearly distinguish and identify between entities.

• Create new niches in the Web3 and DeFi market for projects to exploit and generate revenue based on user needs.

• Create a vibrant Name Service trading market for both users and speculators to know how to identify valuable domain names.

With the above benefits and roles, Name Service is becoming an indispensable part of the Web3 ecosystem. Currently, Name Service services are available on many different blockchains such as Ethereum, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Solana... and are approved by many industry-leading projects such as Metamask, Uniswap, Etherscan,...

Conclusion

For that all reason, Name Service is considered a market for blockchain foundations or powerful projects, not for small builders like other segments. "Winner takes all" is the most suitable phrase to describe this market.

The key to helping the Name Service project develop is to gain recognition from the foundation, the community, and the project to increase the recognition and application of the created domain name.