Everything you need to know about those .eth addresses on Twitter
DNS for your crypto wallet
What the hell is a .eth domain?
In a nutshell, it’s a domain name for your crypto wallet. It works just like it does on the internet (like www.thenextweb.com) and helps you easily find a site. A .eth domain name makes it easier to link to your wallets and apps on web3.
Technically, your wallet address looks something like this: 0xD8046FBC80020b35c7d90B4Cb2C04FfA7446AE25.
This string has 42 characters, so there’s no way in hell you’re going to remember it. So if a friend asks you for your wallet address, it’s easier to send them “blah.eth,” rather than this long string.
Plus, if you get even one character in the string wrong, you might end up sending cryptocurrency to someone else — and there might be no way to recover those coins.
How can you get one?
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is the best way to get hold of one. Here’s how you can do it:
When all the steps are completed, you now own “jumpjoy.eth.” You can also link your Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Litecoin addresses to the domain name.
What can you use it for?
One of the most prominent uses for a .eth domain is to link it with your wallets and dApps (such as the Uniswap exchange) to show it as your username. You can read a detailed guide about thishere.
Plus, you can send or receive cryptocurrency using this short name instead of the 42-character long string. For example, the cryptocurrency wallet service MetaMask lets you send anyone some tokens by typing in the receiver’s domain name.
Notably, your ENS name is also an NFT (non-fungible token). So if you have a few of them, you can trade them on any of the marketplaces like OpenSea.
What’s more, you can link your website to this domain name, and use supporting browsers such as Opera and Brave to directly visit .eth pages. Alternatively, you can visit .eth domains in other browsers like Google Chrome by including ‘https://’ ahead of the domain — likehttps://vitalik.eth.
What are the alternatives?
There’s no reason for you to use the .eth domain. In fact, you can use an existing address you own — such as xyz.com — to link to ENS. You can read more about how to do thathere.
What’s more, there are sites likeUnstopabble Domains, which sell a range of different addresses, including .crypto, .coin, .nft, and .dao. You can register your name of choicehereand use it across web3 sites. Happy surfing!
Story byIvan Mehta
Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW. That’s one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say “Bleh.“Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW. That’s one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say “Bleh.”
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