Ethereum Name Service plans major .eth overhaul with one irreversible catch for domain holders

Ethereum Name Service has proposed activating ENSv2 without requiring existing .eth domain holders to migrate to the new system.

The Oct. 11 proposal would let users keep their current names indefinitely, as long as they keep renewing them, while offering a permanent migration option for those who want access to upgraded features.

Once activated, ENSv2 would handle all new .eth registrations, replacing the existing registration infrastructure. Holders who migrate would permanently transfer management of their domains to the new system, with no mechanism for returning their original tokens.

The proposal remains subject to approval by the ENS decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), whose Oct. 12 governance bulletin listed the vote as pending. ENS has not announced a launch date.

ENSv2 introduces permanent migration and higher registration fees

The upgrade would replace ENS's existing registry, introduced in 2017, with a hierarchical structure that allows individual domains to maintain separate registries for their subdomains.

The changes would give owners more flexibility in assigning permissions, letting businesses and decentralized applications delegate responsibility for specific names or records without giving up broader control.

During the migration, an owner's existing ENSv1 token would move into a smart contract known as the Graveyard, which cannot return or transfer the tokens it receives.

However, users who choose to remain on ENSv1 would keep access to their domains and continue renewing them through a dedicated contract that also preserves their ENSv2 reservations.

The transition would introduce changes to registration costs.

According to ENS's official guidance, annual fees for names containing five or more characters would rise 60% to $8 from $5, while prices for three- and four-character names would remain unchanged.

ENSv2 would also introduce discounts for longer registrations, reducing annual costs by approximately 44% for users purchasing six or more years.

Registration and renewal payments would use stablecoins, including USDC and DAI, replacing ETH-denominated payments and keeping fees fixed in dollar terms.

Domain expiration rules would also change.

The existing 90-day grace period would shrink to 28 days for migrated names. To compensate, ENS would extend registration expiry dates by 62 days, preserving the original deadline when names become available to others.

Names remaining on ENSv1 would retain their 90-day grace period, while domains already expired beyond that window would not receive reservations in the new registry.

The activation process presents additional operational challenges.

ENS expects to temporarily suspend new registrations while developers synchronize existing records and activate the new infrastructure, a process expected to take several hours.

The proposal includes conflicting provisions on renewals during that interval, leaving uncertainty about whether existing holders can renew names before ENSv2 becomes operational.

Wallets and applications integrating ENS must also update their resolution infrastructure to support the new system.

Following approval, ENS Labs would complete the final synchronization, activate ENSv2 registration and resolution, and transfer its remaining administrative permissions to the DAO.

The timing of those steps, along with clarification on renewal availability during the transition, remains unresolved ahead of the governance vote.