ENSv2

📖 How to Use This Guide

Pricing an ENS name is not guesswork — it follows a logic based on what the name does, who needs it, and how much leverage it gives the person who controls it. This guide uses a 1–15 scoring system that spreads names across 15 distinct value tiers, from novelty lifestyle names to category-monopoly infrastructure primitives.

Work through the five questions, assign a score, and the lease rate follows automatically.

Step 1 — Ask These 5 Questions

Answer each question honestly before assigning a score. Each question adds or removes value. The market will be honest even if you aren't.

Step 2 — Score the Name (1–15)

After answering the five questions, assign the name a score from 1 to 15. The expanded 15-point scale ensures that mid-tier infrastructure names are not compressed together — every tier has a clear definition.

Step 3 — Apply the Pricing Chart

Match your score to the ETH range and annual lease. The ETH list price is your valuation — the annual lease is set at 10% of that valuation in dollar terms. Every name in the same score tier leases at the same rate. No guesswork, no exceptions.

⚡ What ENSv2 Changes About Subdomain Leasing

ENSv2 deploys directly on Ethereum Layer 1 — not a separate Layer 2. ENS Labs scrapped its planned Namechain L2 in February 2026 after Ethereum L1 gas costs fell 99% in one year (from ~$5 to under $0.05 per registration). Ethereum L1 is scaling faster than anyone predicted, making a dedicated rollup unnecessary.

This changes the economics of every name in the portfolio:

• Each .eth parent name gets its own smart contract registry, enabling true subdomain ownership with flexible terms
• L1 gas costs for ENS dropped 99% — registration now costs under $0.05, making leasing viable at smaller transaction sizes and opening the market to SMBs and individual developers
• A single well-positioned parent name can issue hundreds of subdomains, turning one name into a recurring revenue platform
• Names that score 9 or higher on the scoring framework become subdomain infrastructure plays, not just individual names

💡 What Makes a Name Valuable for Leasing

When evaluating any name, the core questions are always the same:

• Function — What does this name enable? What does it do?
• Category control — Does it define or anchor an entire vertical?
• Enterprise relevance — Would a serious business pay to lease this identity?
• Developer demand — Is this a namespace developers actually need?
• Infrastructure potential — Can this name power real systems at scale?
• Commercial value — What is the realistic multi-year leasing revenue?

🏗️ Example Use Cases by Tier

🗂️ The 30-Category, 275-Subcategory Taxonomy

Every name in the portfolio is assigned to one primary subcategory and up to two secondary subcategories. Category assignment directly drives the base score. Higher-value infrastructure categories carry higher base scores than lifestyle or generic categories.

⬇ Hold any category to reveal its subcategories — release to collapse

Browse the Portfolio

All 2,000+ names in our portfolio are scored, categorized, and priced using this exact framework. Every listing shows the ETH valuation and annual lease rate.