HOW-TO GUIDE: Getting Your Custom Ethereum Address Name

What is ENS?

ENS stands for Ethereum Name Service and it takes the tedious task out of a user having to remember or even type those loooong hexadecimal addresses we've all come to love :) lol. It's very similar to web's DNS system which resolves IP address in a way that allows you to simply enter www.google.com instead of an IP.

So instead of sending me a handsomely large tip for this wonderful article I took the the time to write to my hex ETH address 0x8952d923f4d957725f699603afd44da6bdc748a5 you can simply send it to cryptoblood.eth from any wallet of your choice! - j/k!

So How Does The Process Work?

The securing of an ENS name works a little differently than DNS, it works off of an auction style bidding. In particular, an auction style called a "Vickery Auction".

72 Hours:

First someone queries a name, which if hasn't been searched for before, will initiate a 72hr countdown before bids can be placed. During this period all bids are hidden.

48 Hours:

After the 3 day period, there is a 48hr "reveal period" in which everyone that placed a bid during the first period will have to opportunity to show how much they were willing to pay. If a person fails to reveal during this period then they will loose their ether tokens. If your bid is not the highest, you are refunded your bid, less a 0.5% fee, which is burned.

Finalize

At the end of the two day reveal period, the winner is the person who revealed the highest bid, but they only have to pay the amount of the second-highest bidder - so basically the difference between highest Bidder and 2nd Highest is returned to the winner. The rest is locked up in a contract for as long as the winning bidder retains control of the name. The winner must send a “finalise” transaction to receive a refund of any extra funds, and to be assigned control of the name in ENS.