This is Eric Golden, and today I'm covering Ethereum Name Service, also known as ENS. In non-technical terms, a naming service allows you to map human-readable words to computer-based numbers. Listeners are likely familiar with Domain Name Services, DNS, which translates a website name such as joincolossus.com into an Internet Protocol address. ENS is similar, but instead of mapping to an IP address, domains are mapped to Ethereum addresses. When I bought my ENS address, I assumed the use case was to rename my wallet and make it easier than memorizing a bunch of random numbers. But as you will hear on this episode, the use case goes well beyond naming a wallet.    To cover this wide-ranging topic, we called on a wide-ranging guest, Brantly Millegan, or better known as Brently.eth. We walk through the ENS backstory, why it seems to be winning over other blockchain-based naming services, and what the future may hold for ENS. There are some really interesting strategic points in this episode that listeners will appreciate. Please enjoy the conversation.  For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Coinbase Prime. Coinbase Prime combines advanced trading, battle-tested custody, financing, and prime services in a single solution. Clients have used our comprehensive investing platform to execute some of the largest trades in the industry because we are the only publicly-traded company with experience trading and custodying crypto assets at scale. Get started with Coinbase Prime today at coinbase.com/prime.   -----   Web3 Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Web3 Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @Web3Breakdowns | @ericgoldenx | @patrick_oshag    Show Notes [00:02:37] - [First question] - Who he was before crypto and how he ended up there [00:04:56] - How he found his way into the ENS space  [00:05:40] - Overview of DNS and domain ownership as it exists today [00:08:48] - The Zooko triangle and how naming currently works [00:10:31] - Previous attempts at ENS and how they differ from its final form [00:14:07] - Deciding to build a system on top of the existing naming infrastructure [00:18:59] - Who has the rights under DNS to shut down domains or bad actors [00:20:59] - What you’re buying when purchasing an ENS name [00:23:28] - How many years you can own your ENS name [00:24:16] - Are you renting the name or buying it [00:25:11] - Domain squatting and how they handle it today in this emergent space [00:29:21] - Why do different letters have different pricing schemes [00:30:25] - How much you can do with an ENS name [00:31:53] - Can ENS names be used as wallet addresses [00:33:18] - If he would have built it on a different blockchain if the project started today [00:35:06] - Name collisions, country domains, and working with Ethiopia  [00:40:53] - Whether or not there will be competitors in name services in the future [00:42:29] - Funding the project with grants and the capital that built ENS [00:46:47] - Forming their DAO and the responsibility of token ownership [00:48:44] - Arriving at the formula to distribute tokens to name holders [00:55:22] - Token holder influence over the project and internal voting [00:54:08] - Flipping tokens and long-term visions for the project [00:57:16] - The difference between a protocol and a product [00:58:23] - KYC, data privacy, and integrating ENS names for account logins [01:04:19] - How cautious one should be when using their name online [01:05:41] - What subdomains are and where they could take the project [01:07:36] - A future wher