[Temp Check] Registration of on.eth to support interoperable addressing standards

jrudolf · October 21, 2025, 2:58pm

Summary

This Temperature Check asks the ENS DAO to allow and execute the creation and registration of the two-character second-level domain on.eth. This domain will be used as infrastructure to host a Chain Resolver, supporting the cross-chain ecosystem.

Minting on.eth will serve as the namespace for the Chain Registry, based on the chain-resolver codebase. Chains will have individual subdomains, for example optimism.on.eth.

This will allow for the deployment of a custom wildcard resolver system, which will facilitate the integration and functionality of standards like ERC-7930 (Interoperable Addresses) and ERC-7828 (Human-Readable Interoperable Addresses, such as vitalik.eth@base).

This proposal supersedes the [Temp Check] l2.eth to Enable Chain-Specific Addresses initiative.

Context and Motivation

Currently, the Ethereum ecosystem relies on a JSON file hosted on GitHub and websites such as chainlist.org to map chain names to their Chain IDs. This presents certain limitations:

It is not a trustless, on-chain source of truth.
Smart contracts cannot natively and reliably query this information.

This initiative, whose contracts and specifications are in the chain-resolver repository, seeks to address these limitations by creating an on-chain registry. In the future, this registry could be extended to include more chain information beyond the chainId, becoming an on-chain alternative to services like chainlist.org. For this system to operate reliably and permissionlessly, it requires a stable namespace within ENS. The on.eth domain is proposed for this purpose due to its brevity and suitability for infrastructure use.

Chain Resolver

The Chain Resolver is a smart contract that also serves as an on-chain registry. It maps human-readable chain names (e.g., “optimism”, “base”) to their standardized, machine-readable identifiers (per the ERC-7930 format) and vice versa, providing a decentralized and verifiable source of truth. As a specialized resolver, it enables dApps and other smart contracts to look up chain information using standard ENS queries. To learn more about its implementation, consult the technical documentation:

Governance: Multisig Configuration

To ensure the security and longevity of the domain, on.eth will be managed with a two-tier model:

The ENS DAO will be the ultimate owner of the on.eth name. This is a security mechanism to prevent the loss or centralized control of the domain. If the managing multisig were to become unavailable, the DAO can vote to transfer control to a new one.
Day-to-day administrative tasks, such as registering new chains or updating records, will be delegated to a dedicated multisig wallet. This provides operational efficiency while ENS-DAO maintains control.

The proposed initial composition for this multisig will be community members (more details will be provided soon):

Josh Rudolf (Ethereum Foundation)
Nick Johnson (ENS)
Unruggable
Other parties from the broader ecosystem.

Benefits to ENS

Usingon.eth for this purpose provides the following benefits to the ENS protocol and the community:

Enables the implementation of interoperability standards (ERC-7930 and ERC-7828), allowing for their functional integration with ENS.
Replaces the off-chain GitHub registry with a DAO-governed on-chain alternative that can be queried trustlessly by smart contracts and apps.
Reinforces the position of ENS as a naming service for ecosystem infrastructure.

Use cases

Some examples of how on.eth could be used within the ecosystem include:

A user will be able to enter an address like vitalik.eth@base into their wallet. The wallet will then query the registry on on.eth to identify the chain (“Base”) and resolve the address on that chain. This simplifies cross-chain interactions and reduces the potential for errors.
A smart contract or app will be able to query optimism.on.eth to natively obtain its Chain ID (10). This provides a verifiable, on-chain data source, removing the dependency on off-chain registries (such as GitHub files).

Next Steps

If this proposal is favorably received, the following steps will be taken:

Finalize the multisig configuration, including its operational and deployment parameters.
Register on.eth and confirm that the multisig holds custody of the name.
Submit a subsequent proposal to deploy and configure the wildcard resolver contracts on the on.eth domain.

nick.eth · October 28, 2025, 12:46pm

I’m fully supportive of this. I think efforts such as this are excellent uses of the limited 2-character registration space.

netto.eth · December 16, 2025, 2:48pm

I support that, it’s a better and more user-friendly name than l2.eth (which was previously proposed).

In private, I suggested cid.eth (chain ID), which I believe was registered by @clowes.eth. That’s also a strong option and, importantly, doesn’t require a DAO proposal.

I’d personally prefer to avoid going down the on-chain proposal route here. It could open the door to similar requests in the future, and one- and two-letter domains can become a meaningful revenue source for the DAO.

pol.eth · December 28, 2025, 1:59pm

gm frens,

I don’t understand why the insistance on ruining the 2 char launch by pre registering a 2 char .eth

This is the third proposal about the exact same idea.

Here is the first one and the second one. I explained why i think it’s a bad idea in the other proposals.

@netto.eth is the only reasonable person here. cid.eth is great and is even better than l2.eth or on.eth

hittin.eth · December 28, 2025, 9:40pm

Well to be fair, ENS “ruined” (utilizing your perspective) the 3-6 character short name launch as there were 3-6 character length that were successfully registered in 2017/2018, never invaldiated, and succesfully migrated in 2020 to the original holder (evading the short names auction altogether from their pre-registration).

Does it matter? No, not in my opinion. Nothing is perfect.

But in this scenerio proposed, I believe it’s in ENS’s and the community as a wholes best interest to pre-register/reserve 2-character domains for utility/efficiency purposes prior to any public release (which I don’t think they will do a public release and these will be reserved for special usecase as is).

pol.eth · December 30, 2025, 5:17pm

that’s news to me. i never heard about it. do you know which names were pre-registered before everyone was able to register names? but yes i think it was a bad decision then, and it would be a bad decision now.

disagree. best interest of the community is to let the free market determine the value of 2 and 1 char .eth names. there is nothing a 2 char can do that a 3 char or a subname of ens.eth can’t.

who gets to decide on this? the dao or labs? community has been waiting for 2 char release for years

hittin.eth · December 31, 2025, 7:34am

First, let me preface this with this was NOT the ENS team who pre-registered the example I will showcase. These were unintended anomalies, that were finalized in 2017, never invaldiated, and the original owners recieved them via “migrateAllLegacy” function in 2020.

Note: This is not a shill of anyones bags, this is for transparency purposes for something that not many people are aware of to this day.

Example 1: Ξther.eth

https://etherscan.io/tx/0xdeda6c3733fddb0e56cea86309448571bca573a0b8907d029d23e9f426b9d384

Finalize Auction
Now click “Logs” and you will see the labelhash.

To decipher the labelhash to see what name it represents, use this tool Raffy made.

Now that we know that tx represents Ξther.eth, copy and paste Ξther.eth into etherscan. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see it was migrated AUTOMATICALLY via “migrateAllLegacy” from the old contract, back to the original person who registered it without him reclaiming himself.

There are very FEW 3-6 character names that evaded Invalidation altogether and were “pre-registered” with a 2017/2018 creation date (predating the official 2019 release for 3-6 character short names).

Also worth mentioning, there are some 3-6 character that got their 2017/2018 creation date from “Finalize Auction” tx, but were later invalidated (prior to 2019 short name auction). However, the creation date stuck.

Also, there are some 3-6 character names that got a 2017/2018 creation date from the “invalidate name” function itself or the “start auction” function tx. So these last 2 methods didn’t really count as “pre-registration” but they left a 2017/2018 creation date.

As far as “pre-registering” 2-character I still believe it is in the best interest of ENS as a whole for utility purposes and longterm stability to be utilized in meaningful ways. But of coarse, for flippers or speculators, they might not like that but they need to realize how utilizing these is more important then just flipping them for profits.

Cheers!

5pence.eth · December 31, 2025, 2:23pm

It’s a decision for the delegates of the ENS DAO. That’s essentially anyone with votes of the $ENS token delegated to them.

Yes, a lot of large delegates are affiliated with ENS Labs, but changes like this would have to be voted through the on-chain contracts. Meaning, anyone with delegated voting power would decide.

If you want to contribute, you can draft a temp check and reach out to the delegates with a rational plan. See if you can form a consensus, make compromises, and move the ball down the field.

It’s not simple or easy, but it is how these things are done. Give it a shot. You might even find some people willing to jump in and help you.

clowes.eth · January 2, 2026, 10:30am

Firstly, @pol.eth @hittin.eth thank you for contributing to the forum - it is important that we have open and constructive dialogue about these kinds of things.

I am unsure what 2 character launch you are referring to? There is no planned general launch.
The current DAO authorized ETHRegistrarController restricts the registration of any name less than 3 characters in length.

Anyone can make a proposal to the DAO to authorize a new Controller - you do need 100k tokens to do so, but if you have a widely liked temperature check a large delegate will almost certainly sponsor your proposal.

This is what has been done here - a temperature check has been posted that has received numerous likes. On a recent Metagov call it was noted that generally people should take an Optimistic approach to governance - if a temp check receives lots of likes, and minimal push back then that is a positive signal to move the proposal forward.

@netto.eth is a reasonable person, I agree.

Statements like this however are antagonistic - I appreciate that you have strong opinions, but we are trying our best.

I agree - that is why I registered it. That said there have been months of extensive conversations amongst members of the wider Ethereum ecosystem on the Interop Calls. on.eth was the most liked option. Usage of this name does not preclude someone from creating a proposal to later use or allocate other 2 letter names.

That is a subjective opinion.

Given that I’ve spent most of my adult life thinking about this, I can assure you that the economically efficient allocation of domain names is an incredibly hard problem.

The DAO. ENS Labs have significant influence in the DAO.

It is unclear who the community refers to but as mentioned above, put together a temperature check and post it. I can’t speak for the DAO as a whole but as a delegate there is a high bar to get my support because you only get one opportunity to do it right - what is the benefit to the DAO of allowing the registration of 2 letter ENS names is the main question I would want answered.

Ah.. I see that @5pence.eth has said some of this too.