ENS DAO Proposal Makes .eth Migration Optional but Irreversible

The Ethereum Name Service DAO is considering a draft plan to move new .eth registrations to ENSv2 while allowing existing names to remain on ENSv1 without a migration deadline.

The proposal would stop new registrations through ENSv1 and open registration on ENSv2 after a transition expected to take a few hours. New registrations would be unavailable on both versions during the changeover, while owners of names that have not migrated would still be able to renew them through ETHRenewerV1.

Migration would be optional but permanent. Owners who move a name would transfer its ENSv1 token to the Graveyard contract, which cannot return or upgrade tokens it holds.

“There’s no deadline to migrate,” ENS founder Nick Johnson wrote in the proposal. “The v1 freeze is reversible; migrating a name is not.”

The proposal remains pending, with no result or activation date.

To activate ENSv2, the plan would remove five ENSv1 registrar controllers, authorize the Graveyard and ETHRenewerV1 contracts, and transfer ownership of the BaseRegistrar to ETHRenewerV1. ENS Labs would then perform a final synchronization, open ENSv2 registrations, switch name resolution to the new system and transfer its remaining administrative roles to the DAO.

ENS maps human-readable .eth names to blockchain addresses and other records. ENSv1 uses a single registry, while ENSv2 introduces hierarchical registries, separate subregistries and more granular, role-based permissions.

Existing active names and names within the ENSv1 grace period have been reserved in ENSv2 for their current owners. Names that expired beyond the 90-day ENSv1 grace period were not reserved and would become available for registration on ENSv2.

ENSv2 would use a 28-day standard grace period, compared with 90 days under ENSv1. Existing names would receive an additional 62 days when the upgrade occurs, preserving the previous renewal window.

The proposed annual price for names with five or more characters is $8, up from $5 under the current pricing proposal. Prices for three- and four-character names would remain unchanged. A six-year registration for names with five or more characters would cost $27, or $4.50 per year.

Registration and renewal payments under ENSv2 are designed to use approved ERC-20 tokens, including USDC and DAI.

The proposal adds details about the consequences of migration beyond the earlier report on the proposed ENSv2 activation. It separates system activation from the migration decision, allowing holders to keep their names on ENSv1 unless they choose to move.