Ethereum Watch

September 5, 2018 6:49 PM

Nick Johnson, lead developer for the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), recently announced that the .xyz domain offered by naming service provider XYZ is now compatible with ENS on the Ethereum mainnet. This means individuals can claim equivalent .xyz names from ENS to use them just like they would ENS-specific .eth addresses, including but not limited to associating them with their wallets, naming EDCCs (aka smart contracts), and creating subdomains.

Like the forthcoming .luxe name integration, .xyz compatibility with ENS allows for easy-to-remember, customizable addresses that maintain the security and anonymity provided by users’ unique hashes. Also similar to the .luxe domain is that a .xyz name can be registered through any Domain Name System (DNS) registrar, giving users the flexibility to acquire an address they can then take to and use on the Ethereum network.

Domain registrar and hosting service EasyDNS has developed a supposedly simple-to-navigate process for users wanting to integrate their EasyDNS-registered .xyz domains with ENS. However, according to Johnson, other DNS registrars have not pursued this type of simplified integration process, so the procedure for those not registered with EasyDNS is relatively manual.

Johnson went on to describe this procedure. The first is to set up DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), a protocol to digitally sign DNS roots to enhance the security of domains. He noted that the ease of the DNSSEC setup process varies between registrars, but doing so effectively is vitally important.

The next step is to add a TXT record to your DNS zone specifying which Ethereum address should be allowed ownership of the .xyz domain in question.

The final part of the manual integration process is claiming the equivalent name in ENS, which can be accomplished through a name-claiming tool accessible via Web3-enabled browsers (like MetaMask). Johnson noted that individuals can verify everything is working properly by looking up the registered domain on the ENS Manager tool.

Although .xyz name integration represents a sort of test drive for ENS support among DNS domains, Johnson said his team plans to roll out the service to “all other DNS TLDs [top-level domains] that support the necessary features – which is almost all of them.”

It seems that Johnson’s goal is slowly materializing, too: The ENS crew is going full steam ahead to enable ENS compatibility among various top-level domain services and blockchain technology organizations. Besides the .xyz and .luxe domains, ENS has recently become compatible with Melonport AG’s cryptocurrency asset management system Melon, and the bug bounty community Gitcoin announced it would fund bounties for ENS integration into developers’ Dapps.

Daniel Putney is a full-time writer for ETHNews. He received his bachelor’s degree in English writing from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he also studied journalism and queer theory. In his free time, he writes poetry, plays the piano, and fangirls over fictional characters. He lives with his partner, three dogs, and two cats in the middle of nowhere, Nevada.

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