Coinbase Announces Ethereum Name Service (ENS) Integration

Coinbase Global Inc COIN announced Wednesday it would accept Ethereum ETH/USD Name Service domains to be linked to wallets on its platform.

What Happened: ENS has become uber-popular among crypto users, specifically users with non-custodial wallets. The move to the Coinbase platform will bring the name service to a much larger pool of users.

Perhaps, most importantly, the new users will be able to purchase domain names with fiat, reducing friction further for the 103 million users on Coinbase.

This integration is the first name service to become available on Coinbase and is likely to push ENS's lead in this sector.

Why It's Important: ENS is an important protocol for identification, transaction and overall adoption in Web3.

“Just like how domain providers on the web enable anyone to easily register a name and then build a website that suits their needs, we aim to do this in Web3," said Nick Johnson, a lead developer for ENS.

"Everyone in and outside of the crypto space has observed how long, impossible-to-remember wallet addresses are a risk to users and a terrible user experience," Johnson noted. "Human-readable decentralized identities are the key to driving adoption so that operating in Web3 eventually becomes as commonplace and easy as operating in Web2.”

ENS domains collaborating with Coinbase is big news for both parties, but the biggest winners are users looking for a more simplistic experience in Web3.

Photo: Akif CUBUK via Shutterstock