Even if you intentionally tune out “NFT Twitter,” you may also have noticed how some of your favorite brands, musicians, publications and entrepreneurs have recently changed their social media profile names – something they have spent millions of marketing dollars to cultivate over decades (or in some cases, centuries).

In December alone, Budweiser, NBA super-star Shaquille O'Neil, five-time grammy award winning musician Kid Rock, Shopify co-founder Tobi Lutke, actor Drake Bell (of Drake & Josh fame), the hair loss prevention company Keeps and fast-food giant White Castle, have all added ".eth" to their social media profile names. The list goes on…

To most people, it may seem like these people and brands have joined some sort ofcrypto cult – changing their names to include a reference to “Ethereum” – signaling their involvement with crypto or with NFTs. If you are ‘most people’ you would be wrong.

The addition of “.eth” is more than just changing some text in your Twitter setting; “.eth” is an Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain name (like .com, but for the decentralized internet) and some of these brands are shelling out a lot of money for them:

While Shaq and WhiteCastleOfficial claimed their names for free, Keeps paid 2Ξ ($8,880) for hair.eth, Budweiser paid 30Ξ for beer.eth, ($94,278), and Tobi Lutke paid 30Ξ ($121,851) for tobi.eth. To date, the largest single ENS domain sale came in October ‘20, when paradigm.eth was bought for 420Ξ, $1.51m at the time of sale.

The numbers can be mind-blowing, but what is it that these people actually buying?The easiest way to understand ENS domain names is to see them as the “.com” of Web3 - the decentralized internet. Why are they buying them? Because it is obvious.

When Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, was asked about “obvious applications ofcrypto that people just don’t get yet” by Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, he responded, “The ENS ecosystem and the whole concept of users and objects havingcross platform names.”

What is web3?

In 1983, the introduction of the Domain Name System (DNS) – think .com, .net, .org etc.– changed the internet forever. DNS stores plain words as domain names and translates them into Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

Before DNS came along, early users of the internet would have to type in an IP address to visit a website. You can still type 142.250.183.46 into your browser (give it a try, it still works!) but DNS allows the IP address to be referenced by simple words like “google.com”. The same function is true of ENS domain names, signified by their “.eth”suffix. ENS domain names convert 42-character hexadecimal Ethereum wallet addresses into plain words.

"0x22C839b6FC33F51e6747E6d03315A4BC47EEdcCF" (my Ethereum wallet address) becomes "tait.eth”

Whether you’re anti-crypto, don’t like hearing the word “NFT,” or simply haven’t taken the time to learn what any of this stuff means, the advent of web3 is good news for all of us – without exception.

Without getting too technical, web1: launched in 1989 and allowed tech-savvy types to post information online.

Launched in 1999, today’s web2, introduced tools that enabled the non-nerdy masses to create content online – not just computer experts and coders.

We all know the problems with web2: big tech companies like Facebook (now Meta),Amazon, and Google, farm our data and sell it to advertisers. Selling user data is an inherent part of the business plan and a given for the typical web2 product’s launch-cycle: release an app, onboard as many users as possible, monetize the user base. Though cliché, “if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product."

In addition to privacy, there are security concerns with web2. Data breaches run rampant and the vast majority of users simply don’t have control over their data - even fewer know how it’s stored.

The inescapable fact is, companies will always sell your data to pay their bills.

Web3 is the next iteration of the internet. It is decentralized, meaning no corporationowns the servers. Web3 introduces “ownership” to the digital world and allows us reclaim our digital identities.

So why spend money on an ENS domain name?

Unlike DNS domain names, ENS domains do way more than just act as routing devices for a website: they are your universal key to web3.

• Website Address: just like a .com address, your ENS domain can be used to host a decentralized website.

• Universal Login: websites built on web3 will use ENS domain to sign in - no more email and no more pesky passwords. This means that your ENS domain name can be used as a universal login and identity across any application or website.

• Your Bank Account: an ENS domain can be used to send and receive any cryptocurrency - not just Ethereum. If you’ve ever bought crypto, you know that you have a different wallet address for each cryptocurrency: for Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP each of my addresses are a nifty 40+ characters in length - all of them can be sent to "tait.eth".

As crypto becomes more and more a part of our daily lives, juggling all these addresses and sending them around to receive payments can get a tad tiresome. My ENS domain name receives all cryptocurrency. Translation: if you’re sending me BTC you can simply type tait.eth and it will be directed to the corresponding BTC wallet. If you’re sending me ETH you can send it to tait.eth, XRP, Doge, Shiba Inu, Safemoon…. Just send it to tait.eth

For companies, the universal wallet naming is paramount: when I look at my transactions (similar to my Chase banking app to try and figure out where all of my money is going), it is a mind-numbing 0x22C839... transferred 1Ξ to 0x2c1cdc...

Instead, when a company adopts an ENS domain, it would show as tait.eth transferred 1Ξ to gucci.eth, amazon.eth or some such. Now, that is what I call another giant leap for mankind!

If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably wondering (1) okay so how do I get one? and (2) is it going to cost me an arm and both legs?

I’ll answer the second question first – No! Big sales like paradigm.eth, which sold for $1.5m are secondary market sales – meaning someone claimed the name and then resold it at a significant markup. The most expensive part of registering an ENS domain name is the “gas fee,” or the transaction fee. At the time of writing this, the gas fee for registering an ENS domain is $120.00.

On top of the gas fee, there is the cost paid per year of registration: $5/year for names that are five characters or longer, $160/year for four-character names, and $640/year for three-character names (fees are paid in ETH).

How do you get one? It’s very easy – you need an Ethereum wallet and around $100. If you check both of those boxes, I’ll refer you to the expert, Brantly Millegan (the director of Operations at ENS Domains) with his incredibly helpful, “Step-by-Step Guide to Registering a .ETH Name”

Go out there and get an ENS domain for yourself, your company, your brother, sister and grandmother (I got one for mine) – they’re going quickly!