Service Provider Strategy Forum

📆 Events
10

Service Provider Strategy Forum — Summary & Insights

Expressing Gratitude

I’d like thank everyone who attended and participated in the ENS Service Provider Strategy Forum. The call was incredibly productive, with valuable insights shared across different domains of ENS infrastructure, governance, and strategic growth.

Feedback suggests that there is a strong demand for more focus group-style discussions. I acknowledge that accessibility is important, and I will make an effort to improve on that front moving forward by making these sessions more inclusive—such as providing a public access link—while ensuring that participation remains meaningful and constructive.

Project Summaries

Project Category Description
Lighthouse Labs Governance Tooling Accelerates onchain decision-making through DAO operations and governance client integration.
Namehash Labs Name Discovery & Indexing Develops NameAI, NameGraph, and ENS Node for multi-chain ENS indexing and name discovery.
Webhash Decentralized Web Hosting No-code decentralized website builder for ENS with a focus on permanent storage and onchain content provenance.
JustaName ENS Integration & Identity Facilitates easy ENS integration into dApps with subdomain claiming, AI tools, and decentralized identity frameworks.
Chomtana Decentralized Web Hosting Building a platform similar to Vercel for deploying decentralized websites and encouraging second-level domain adoption.
Unruggable Labs L2 & Infrastructure Developing L2 solutions for ENS scaling and Unruggable Gateways for secure resolution.
Agora Governance Tooling Improves capital allocation transparency, DAO participation, and governance security with visualization and voting tools.
PYOR DAO Analytics Provides DAO governance transparency through data dashboards, distribution channels, and research reports.
Web3 Labs / Chain Lens Smart Contract Naming enscribe.xyz project simplifies smart contract naming at deployment time for a decentralized, immutable system.

Potential Concerns for the DAO Service Provider Program

Several discussions during the call surfaced important concerns related to the ENS Service Provider Program (SPP), particularly around funding scope, redundancy, and capital allocation efficiency, I encourage @Meta-Gov_Stewards to have a look at this:

  • Overlap & Redundancy: There was broad recognition that multiple projects in the pipeline have overlapping scopes, particularly within governance tooling and DWeb projects. This raised concerns about inefficient spending and the potential for duplicative efforts.
  • Funding Scope Debate: A discussion revolved around what should and should not be funded under the SPP. @brantlymillegan argued for a broad interpretation that includes ecosystem projects, while Nick Johnson emphasized that the program should be focused on core ENS infrastructure rather than general ecosystem initiatives.
  • Capital Allocation & Strategic Planning: Acknowledging concerns around inefficiency, @nick.eth conceded that there should have been more discussion on funding allocation before committing capital, while also noting that this is a broader issue within the DAO space that has yet to be properly addressed. The challenge of balancing funding between governance tooling, DWeb projects, and infrastructure was highlighted as a point requiring clearer strategic direction.
  • ENS DAO Revenue vs. Value Creation: Some attendees raised the question of whether funded projects should directly contribute to ENS DAO revenue versus providing long-term ecosystem value through adoption and infrastructure improvements.

Key Takeaways from the Discussion

  1. Governance Tooling and DAO Coordination

    • The need for better governance tooling was widely agreed upon, with projects like Lighthouse Labs, Agora, and PYOR’s analytics platform offering solutions to improve transparency and participation. However, the concern of redundancy was raised, urging delegates to carefully assess which solutions bring the most unique value.
    • The idea of a signaling mechanism (Signals) for gauging DAO intent before voting was proposed as a means to better prioritize funding requests.

  2. Decentralized Web (DWeb) & ENS Expansion

    • Several teams presented DWeb-related projects, focusing on ENS-powered website hosting, with some emphasizing second-level domains over subdomains.
    • While DWeb projects align with ENS’s vision, some delegates expressed concern over the need to prioritize direct ENS infrastructure over broader ecosystem applications.

  3. ENS Infrastructure & Market Growth

    • Projects like NameHash Labs and JustaName aim to improve ENS adoption through better indexing, AI-enhanced discovery, and subdomain expansion.
    • A key discussion revolved around the role of subnames in ENS adoption, with some arguing that gasless subnames are essential for onboarding, while others noted that they do not directly contribute to DAO revenue.

  4. Funding Structure & Capital Efficiency

    • @Premm.eth proposed a multi-pool funding structure to allow delegates to allocate specific budgets for DAO tooling, infrastructure, and ecosystem growth, avoiding inefficient spending.
    • There was broad agreement that ENS DAO needs a more structured capital allocation strategy to avoid funding unnecessary redundancies and ensure efficient use of treasury funds.

Next Steps & Proposed Follow-Up Discussion

Given the discussions and key concerns raised, we propose scheduling another strategy-focused call to address the following open questions:

  • Refining the Scope of the SPP: Should funding be strictly for ENS infrastructure, or should it extend to broader ecosystem initiatives?
  • Capital Allocation & Budgeting: Should ENS adopt a multi-pool funding structure to prevent inefficiencies? If so, how should funds be distributed across categories?
  • Overlapping Project Proposals: How can we better structure proposal evaluation to minimize redundant funding?

I encourage further discussion and welcome any feedback on structuring the next strategy call for maximum impact.

—
For questions or further input, please reach out via the forum or Telegram (@estmcmxci).

3 Likes