ENS Labs has proposed an expansion of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) to layer-2 scaling protocols, a move dubbed "ENSv2". This isn't merely a migration of core parts of the ENS protocol, but a re-envisioning of the architecture from the ground up. The expansion aims to make ENS more decentralized, enable new use cases and integrations, and overcome constraints of the Ethereum mainnet.

Moving to layer-2 offers significant benefits, including lower gas fees for registering and renewing .eth names, more control and customization through a hierarchical registry system, and improved multi-chain interoperability by connecting .eth names across networks. ENS Labs is yet to select a specific layer-2 network for the migration.

The proposal, which was put forward for discussion on the ENS DAO, seeks an annual budget increase of 4 million USDC to cover infrastructure costs and hire additional developers. The layer-2 ecosystem recently hit a total value locked all-time high of $47.7 billion, coinciding with the ETH price pump. Despite the announcement, the ENS native token was trading flat at around $26.