ENSv2

Status note (August 2026): reflects the February 2026 announcement "ENS: Staying on Ethereum". This page tracks what dWebsite operators should know as ENSv2 approaches launch.

ENSv2 is a redesign of the ENS protocol built around a new hierarchical registry architecture. In February 2026, ENS Labs announced that ENSv2 will deploy exclusively on Ethereum Layer 1 — development of Namechain, the previously planned purpose-built Layer 2, has been halted.

Why ENS is staying on Ethereum

The original ENSv2 plan assumed L1 costs would keep pricing out everyday name operations. Ethereum's scaling progress overtook that assumption — as the announcement puts it, "Ethereum L1 is scaling, and it's scaling faster than almost anyone predicted two years ago":

• ENS registration gas costs dropped ~99% year-over-year, from roughly $5 to under 5 cents.

• Ethereum's gas limit rose from 30M to 60M in 2025, with 200M targeted for 2026.

• Subsidizing all 2025 ENS transactions on L1 would have cost around $10,000 — far less than operating a dedicated L2.

The Namechain engineering work isn't discarded: its designs feed into ENSv2's interoperability with existing L2s and cross-chain user experience.

What ENSv2 still delivers

• New registry architecture with flexible ownership models (hierarchical, per-name registries)

• Simplified registration — single-step enrollment, with purchases payable in stablecoins from any chain

• New apps — the ENS App and ENS Explorer are in public alpha

• Multi-chain resolution for 60+ blockchains, including Bitcoin and Solana

Dropping the cross-chain migration also removes a large source of complexity, improving stability and operational reliability.

What it means for dWebsites

• Resolution stays on L1 and stays simple. Gateways like eth.limo continue reading names directly from Ethereum — no new cross-chain hop is introduced. CCIP-read (ERC-3668) remains what it is today: the mechanism for names that opt into off-chain or L2 resolvers (see ENS Subdomains and CCIP). Your name.eth.limo URL does not change.

• Content hash records carry over. The contenthash record type and its protocol encodings (Record Types) are unchanged.

• Cheap management is already here. The L1 fee collapse that made Namechain unnecessary also means registrations, renewals, and content hash updates now cost cents — and ENS Labs has floated L1 gas subsidies for .eth holders once ENSv2 launches.

• Ecosystem tooling targets ENSv2. For example, the ens-hooks publishing flow for on-chain data URLs references ENSv2 names.

What you need to do

Nothing, currently. Existing names, resolvers, and content hash records continue to work, and eth.limo will track protocol changes on the gateway side. Follow ENS Labs' blog for launch timelines.