ENS DAO Newsletter #41 — 08/15/2023

📰 Newsletter Roundup (tl;dr)

ENS Labs Updates: new hires, philanthropy efforts, requests for feedback
ENS Integrations: Blockscan, Namestone, .XYZ
Community Updates: Google acknowledges ENS Innovation
Proposals: EP4.1 passed, ENS Invalid Name Refund Proposal
Meta-Governance: Endaoment dashboard, security advisory, treasury diversification
Public Goods: Rethinking ENS Small Grants
Ecosystem: ENSIP-14, affiliate marketing, Gasless DNSSEC

☀️ Welcome!

Welcome to the ENS DAO Newsletter:

🗓️ New editions — published bi-weekly (Tuesday) — beginning on August 1st.
📑 Previous editions are archived on the ENS DAO Governance Forum.
🗳️ New proposals are broadcasted to Telegram.

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📅 Calendar

Refer to ENS DAO Calendar for ENS DAO working group calls and other events.

Calendar: Public Access
Calendar: Access with Gmail

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🚩 Upcoming Events

Devconnect: November 13-19
ETHIstanbul: November 17-19

🗳️ Recent Proposals

Streamlining DAO Voting

Based on delegate feedback, the Meta-Governance working group will move to consolidate proposals within a voting period. Please note that some proposals are still under review and subject to change. Voting periods will be scheduled regularly, preferably at the end of each month.

Furthermore, anyone with a minimum of 100k $ENS can submit an executable proposal on Snapshot at any time. If a proposal gains popularity in the governance forum, the stewards, along with alisha.eth, will prioritize it for a vote during the designated voting window.

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and active participation in our governance process.

EP4.1 — Approve further actions and strategies for the Endowment (PASSED)
Draft — Refund .eth names affected by normalization updates

Note: The Meta-Governance working group will move to consolidate proposals into a voting period — to be scheduled at the end of each month. For more information, please review @5pence.eth thread on streamlining the voting process.

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✏️ Draft Proposals:

ENSIP-14: Platform Source Parameter. — 07.24.23
Extend ENS DAO to EIP-4824. — 07.21.23

Note: For details on the ENS DAO proposal process see our Governance Docs.

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ENS Labs Updates

ENS supports the International Rescue Committee (IRC)

In the lead-up to World Humanitarian Day on August 19th, ENS Labs is partnering with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) — a global first-response humanitarian support organization. Full details of this partnership can be found in their official announcement.

Here are the key details:

Donation Address: The IRC’s official donation address is rescueorg.eth. This facilitates direct on-chain contributions.
ENS Labs Contribution: They’ve kickstarted the campaign with a generous donation of $25,000 USDC equivalent. They encourage the broader community to contribute as well.
Donation Period: The fundraising drive will run from August 14th to August 19th. To show your support, direct your donations to rescueorg.eth.
Transparency Collaboration: In a move towards greater transparency, the IRC, in association with Nansen, has launched a Real-Time Dashboard. This dashboard offers a live view into on-chain donations, enhancing both accountability and visibility for donors and nonprofits.

Nansen’s collaboration signifies a notable advancement in promoting transparency in philanthropy. Their system not only displays transactions in and out but also fosters a heightened sense of accountability among donors and nonprofits. Join the cause. Make your impact by donating to rescueorg.eth. — 08.14.23

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ENS Web Update — July 2023

The monthly ENS Web Update is now available to review. They've released a public roadmap, categorizing tasks as completed, in progress, or upcoming. Ledger and Argent wallet support have been integrated. Noteworthy enhancements include displaying the grace period and adding Telegram handles to profiles. Improved transaction management, an updated team page, and deployment updates are also part of recent progress. ENSjs development is focused on stability, and upcoming updates involve technical insights into ENS on Layer 2 solutions and bug fixes. Notably, transaction modals now close on changes, and issues like emoji name display and Chinese character rendering have been resolved. ENS is also launching its own blog platform for streamlined content organization and additional content formats. — 08.15.23

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Role Transitions and New Hires

ENS Labs has recently announced new roles and hires:

Evanmoyer.eth, host of ENS Interviews, recently announced their new position at ENS Labs as Community Manager — “contributing to ENS is a huge passion of mine, and I’m looking forward to taking on a bigger role in the community!” — 08.07.23
ENS Labs has soft-announced the ENS Blog, a publication dedicated to educating the community on all things ENS. @zadok7 will take on a new role as the Blog’s Writer and Editor. Stay tuned for the official release date. — 08.07.23
@Leon, developer at ENS Labs has transitioned to Head of Engineering, while @Esk3nder.eth has become Head of ENS Labs Product and Strategy, now working full-time. — 08.10.23

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ENS Bounty featured in Encode Club’s “Future of Blockchain University”

ENS Labs is particpating in Encode Club’s “Future of Blockchain University Hackathon”. Up to $5000 USD equivalent of bounties are available to projects that use ENS as part of their stack. For more information, visit Encode Club. — 08.05.23

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Request for Feedback: Profile Record Specification

@taytems is seeking feedback on the ENS profile record specification, detailing text records to be displayed anywhere an ENS profile is. Leave feedback on ENSIP-XX: Profile Text Records Pull Request. — 08.02.23

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ENS Development and Integrations

Integration: XYZ x ENS

ENS names now have an eth.xyz profile, which can also double as a Bluesky social media handle. These profiles act as landing pages for decentralized identities, allowing customization for wallet addresses, websites, NFT collections, and more. Append “.xyz” to your .eth name to access your .xyz profile. Feedback can be sent via X or through email. Detailed instructions are available on the .XYZ blog. — 08.11.23

Note: Subdomains have a different URL and cannot be used as Bluesky usernames.

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Integration: Etherscan x ENS

Etherscan has launched Blockscan Chat Mobile App, which enables wallet-to-wallet messaging using an ENS name. The app is available on both Android and iOS. For more information, visit Etherscan. — 08.07.23

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Integration: Namestone x Converse x XMTP x ENS

Namestone, an ENS subdomain provider, has integrated Converse and XMTP to superchargedecentralized conversations right from the community page. — 08.11.23

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Update: Bulk Subname Operations

@serenae has built a proof-of-concept for bulk subname operations — available for review. The proof of concept addresses the need to streamline multi-subnames creation without individual approvals, allows wrapping and burning permissions on pre-existing subnames post-launch, and synchronizes expiry dates after extending the parent name. — 08.11.23

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ENS Media Alerts

Spaces: Messaging with XMTP x Coinbase Wallet x ENS — 08.08.23
Unchained: Ethereum Name Service Explained: A Guide to .ETH Domains — 08.01.23
Google: How four companies are boosting Web3 innovation with Blockchain Node Engine — 08.14.23

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Community Updates

Google acknowledges ENS innovation

Google Cloud recently spotlighted ENS Labs’ dedication to ensuring the longevity and relevance of NFTs in its blog. Highlighting the value of Google Cloud’s Blockchain Node Engine, Muhammed Tanrikulu, Senior Software Engineer at ENS Labs, mentioned its superior performance and its pivotal role in ensuring timely data retrieval for the Metadata Service. Alberto Martin from Web3 Product at Google further emphasized the collaboration via a tweet:

Google Cloud Blockchain node engine is used in many ways, #ensdomains #thirdweb have been some of our initial BNE customers. If you want to learn more on how we are working together, head to the @googlecloud blog and read more. — Alberto Martin (@AlbertoMartinP) — 08.14. 23

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ENS for the Multichain World — thread by dr3a.eth

@dr3a.eth spun up a thread on @matoken.eth’s presentation: ‘ENS for the multichain world’; with over 24k impressions on this thread (let alone all the others), their consistent, high signal-to-noise broadcasts make for concise breakdowns which address the needs of the ENS community perfectly. — 08.07.23

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ENS Flux

@delray have introduced a new, free tool for ENS profiles, enabling users to seamlessly upload content without the need to interact with IPFS or manually add text records. Designed with newcomers in mind, the tool aims to offer an intuitive experience, despite some limitations. Currently in the testing phase, feedback from users on both goerli and mainnet is welcome. Try Flux now. — 08.09.23

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Log in to WordPress with Ethereum

@zadok7 recently unearthed a Wordpress plug-in which enables WordPress admin. log in with Ethereum. Powered by RainbowKit, the plug in allows users to log in with Ethereum, insert a RainbowKit Login block, set a required token balance from login, and sync ENS text records to WordPress, among other things. Try the plug-in today. — 08.10.23

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Namestone explains ENS with an illustration

Namestone, a gasless ENS subdomain provider, published a very helpful comic illustrating ENS’ utility using a library analogy. Namestone specializes in gasless ENS subdomains. If you’re looking for a solution to issue gasless subdomains to your community, get in touch with the Namestone team on X. — 08.07.23

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Working Group Bulletin

Q3/Q4 Lead Stewards + Secretary Appointment:

Appointments:

Meta-Governance – @katherinewu
Public Goods – @Coltron.eth
Ecosystem – @slobo.eth
Secretary – @Limes

The responsibilities of the Lead Stewards & Secretary are set out in Rule 9.8 and Rule 9.9 of the Working Group Rules.

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ENS DAO Working Group Schedule (Q3/Q4 2023):

⚖️ Meta-Governance @ 3PM UTC Tuesday — Google Meet
☀️ Public Goods @ 4pm UTC Tuesday — Google Meet
🌱 ENS Ecosystem @ 4pm UTC Thursday — Google Meet

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Meta-Governance

The Meta-Governance working group hosted its weekly meetings on August 1st, 2023 and August 8th, 2023:

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Request for Feedback

The Meta-Governance stewards encourage the ENS community to participate in improving the Protocol by visiting ens.canny.io; it serves as a dedicated platform to collect user feedback, feature requests, integrations, and bug reports. The tool’s upvoting feature, when widely utilized, can significantly boost community involvement and development. ENS Labs and Working Group stewards have visibility over submissions, and will work to ensure the appropriate parties are notified of submissions. — 08.03.23

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Executable Proposal: Refund .eth names affected by normalization updates

A new Executable Proposal has been drafted by @alisha.eth and @matoken.eth, the proposal focuses on issuing refunds for fees spent on .eth names that may be negatively affected by updates to the name normalization standard passed in EP 3.7, which relates to ENSIP-15: Name Normalization. Alisha will poll delegates to get an idea of what option they would support being included in an Executable Proposal. If there is no consensus, a Temp Check may be posted on the ENS Snapshot space. The proposal may be put to a vote by the end of August, if not September. — 08.10.23

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Security Advisory

@Nick.eth recently addressed a technical issue present in the ethregistrar controller, which also impacts the Namewrapper — they have prepared a solution that, if deployed, would introduce a new admin contract to shield against any possible exploitation. Implementing this patch introduces added complexity to contracts, however. Amounting to an increase of 3,000 gas, which translates to an added cost of 28c at 50 gwei.

Meta-Governance stewards encourage discourse to address the issue at large, the goal with which is to collect feedback and subsequently initiate an off-chain temp check to determine the best approach. The ENS Community, especially those with relevant technical experience, are urged to actively participate: to comment on threads, engage in conversations, reflect on the matter, and put forth discussion topics sooner rather than during the voting period. — 08.01.23

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Endaoment / Governance Dashboards

Karpatkey, DAO treasury and risk management, have issued the ENS Endaoment dashboard, featuring a detailed outlook on overall treasury management including balance overview, treasury mix, token allocation and more. They’ve published a Dune Dashboard as well, which details Governance analytics and aims to be an open and consolidated source of information about governance data. The financial report will be available both on the forum and on the Karpatkey website. Check out this helpful thread by @cap for a detailed breakdown — 08.09.23

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Treasury Diversification

@5pence.eth initiated a discussion regarding the diversification into Liquid Staking Tokens (LSTs) beyond Lido Protocol. The primary focus was understanding the goals, especially in light of the newly approved endowment strategies.

Here’s a concise summary of the discussion:

The current plan is to gradually shift the stakeETH position into Rocketpool.
The immediate objective is to maintain a portfolio with 20% in Rocketpool and 80% in Lido. This distribution is mainly influenced by liquidity considerations.
A more extensive debate took place about Lido’s market share and its implications for network risk.

@Nick.eth strongly advocated for validator diversity. He stressed the importance decentralization and recommended considering other trustworthy staking providers. @alextnetto.eth pointed out that spreading across multiple LSTs might help in reducing slippage. Stewards are considering a soft proposal to limit up to 50% allocation to LSTs to prevent asset concentration. Karpatkey took the responsibility to analyze the potential implications of capping Lido’s share at 50%. They will further investigate its feasibility and safety aspects and provide feedback. — 08.08.23

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Public Goods

The Public Goods working group hosted its weekly meetings on August 1st, 2023 and August 8th, 2023:

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Rethinking ENS Small Grants

Historically, small grants have placed a significant demand on delegates. The objective is to devise new voting methods for these grants, independent of delegates who’ve already contributed to Working Group funding decisions.

Key Takeaways:

Voting Mechanism: Investigate non-ENS token-dependent voting.
Sybil Security: Utilize Gitcoin passport and multiple layers of sybil resistance.
Integration: Combine voting with platforms like Snapshot and maintain specific ENS records.
Engaging Voters: Engage diverse groups, from builders to developers and prior grant winners, in the voting process.
Snapshot & POAP Strategy: Incorporate a blend of Snapshot, weighted POAPs, and approval voting. Aim to condense POAP categories to 2-3 types.
Timeline: September is the targeted month for rollout, with a focus on potentially implementing a POAP strategy.

Looking ahead, Working Group stewards will work to asses past strategies’ effectiveness and aim for a sybil-resistant voting method that encourages high-impact, high-context contributors to participate in the voting rounds, irrespective of their $ENS balance. Alisha.eth has opened a thread where ENS community members are encouraged to participate in the discussion. — 08.08.23

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Funding The Commons

The Public Goods Working Group is proud to sponsor the “Funding The Commons” event. Following the success of a similar event they’ve hosted in Paris, they are now bringing the event to Berlin. To learn more, visit their website — fundingthecommons.io. This event features a virtual hackathon where hackers can take on challenges and earn bounties. The stewards are currently seeking collaborators for a specific bounty related to Public Goods. If interested, reach out to @Coltron.eth for more information. — 08.08.23

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Ecosystem

The Ecosystem working group hosted its weekly meetings on August 3rd, 2023 and August 10th, 2023:

Note: The ENS Ecosystem Working Group offers rolling grants, and applicants can apply anytime. The evaluation process takes around four weeks, and unsuccessful applicants are welcome to reapply in the future.

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ENSIP-14 and Affiliate Marketing

Discussion on ENSIP-14 continues; originally proposed by @avsa as an on-chain source parameter which tracks how platforms register names, the conversation eventually evolved into a broader affiliate program which would incentivize individuals or entities to promote ENS and drive more registrations and renewals. @lightwalker.eth has since led discussion on the topic and has suggested to open further discourse on the matter on separate, regularly held meetings. More detail about the proposal can be found here as well as some further insight from @taytems on its implementation. — 08.06.23

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Future of the Primary ENS Name

As L2 scaling solutions gain ecosystem adoption, the importance of Primary Names as a “Web 3 username” comes into focus. @Premm.eth has presented a comprehensive proposal emphasizing the adoption of off-chain primary names. This proposal also introduces a fallback system, which can function either off-chain, on L2, or L1. However, the technical nuances still need clarity. It’s recommended that a dedicated session be scheduled to delve deeper into the technical aspects of primary names. Follow the discussion. — 08.10.23

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Developer Updates

Gasless DNSSEC is nearing its test phase on the testnet. This feature will introduce Gasless Imports, allowing users to import domain names without the burden of gas fees, which currently range between $200 to $500. The significance of enabling gasless imports for DNS and the capability to set primary names across multiple chains cannot be overstated. Such advancements could greatly enhance the adoption and value proposition of ENS. — 08.10.23

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Newsletter Updates

The Ecosystem Working Group has funded the ENS DAO Newsletter, with an allocation of 18,000 USDC for its operational costs through the remainder of the term — ensuring consistent and top-tier updates for the community. The newsletter will now be published bi-weekly (Tuesday) at 11 am Eastern Time on the forum, Paragraph and on the DAOs socials (tl;dr). Editorials and translation efforts have been momentarily paused to focus on showcasing pivotal developments within the ENS and Ethereum landscapes. — 08.10.23

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Project Highlight: Persona

Femi - adebimpe.xyz introduced the Persona platform, inspired by Nouns and emphasizing community engagement with DAO-like structures. Members assume roles denoted by guild tags, which confer specific community access. Users can manage multiple personas, each linked to a guild tag. Active participation boosts persona reputation, enhancing community influence.

The platform lets users create their own communities or DAOs, determine community tokens, enlist members, and form guilds, with an auction feature for fundraising. Persona uniquely integrates with ENS for metadata and offers NFT-based avatar customization. Femi aims to launch Persona publicly late this year or early next. — 08.10.23

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🤝🏻 Get Involved

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Thank you very much for reading! Goodbye. 👋🏻