Previously, I had discussed the idea of subsidizing gas costs for verified, ENS-aligned voters as a way to strengthen governance participation and create a flywheel between voter activity, developer incentives, and ENS ecosystem growth.
I’d like to pivot this conversation toward a broader and more infrastructure-oriented approach: exploring how .eth L1 gas subsidies could be funded directly from registration and renewal revenue, and structured as a universal public good for all .eth holders rather than a discretionary or participant-exclusive incentive.
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Introduce a dedicated subsidy contract
Currently, the Registrar Controller collects funds from .eth registrations and renewals, and the DAO withdraws those funds into its treasury. I propose developing a dedicated subsidy contract that receives a percentage of revenue from the Registrar Controller and uses it to subsidize .eth-related gas costs.
How it works
Revenue split at the Registrar Controller
Modify the Registrar Controller so that, instead of routing 100% of proceeds to the treasury, it splits incoming funds by a configurable ratio (for example, 90/10) between the DAO treasury and the new subsidy contract.
This creates a sustainable, automatic funding source for gas subsidies rather than relying on ad-hoc DAO votes or periodic treasury grants.
Subsidy contract accumulation and reimbursement
The subsidy contract accumulates its share of revenue and is programmed to reimburse or sponsor eligible .eth transactions (to be defined in the proposal).
It can include:
- per-transaction reimbursement cap to protect against gas spikes.
- periodic budget cap that limits the total amount distributed within a given timeframe.
DAO governance and parameters
The subsidy contract would remain fully governed by the DAO, which could set or adjust parameters such as reimbursement caps, eligible actions, budget ratios, and emergency overrides.
This approach ties subsidies directly to ENS usage, improving long-term sustainability, while keeping all parameters transparent and adjustable by the DAO with clear on-chain records.
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The Ask
This would naturally require careful design and comprehensive auditing, as it introduces new logic and potential attack surfaces. I’m seeking input on whether the benefits of implementing this contract outweigh the risks.