What is Ethereum Name Service?

The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is a naming system built on the Ethereum blockchain that provides a way to map human-readable names, such as 'alice.eth', to machine-readable identifiers like Ethereum addresses and other cryptocurrency addresses. It features reverse resolution to associate metadata with these addresses. ENS operates with a hierarchical structure of domains and subdomains, giving owners control over their respective domains and subdomains.

ENS utilizes smart contracts, referred to as registrars, for allocating top-level domains like '.eth' and '.test'. These contracts define the rules for subdomain creation and ownership. ENS is deployed on the Ethereum main network as well as on multiple test networks, and it can integrate existing DNS names owned by users for functionality within the ENS framework.