ENS Scraps L2 Plans as Ethereum Slashes Costs 99%

ENS has abandoned the Namechain L2 rollup as Ethereum gas expenses reduced by 99%. ENSv2 will reside on L1 since it does not need an additional layer due to scaling.

Ethereum Name Service canceled its Namechain Layer 2 rollup. Gas costs on the Ethereum mainnet dropped so drastically that a separate layer became unnecessary.

ENS Labs announced the decision this week. The organization will deploy ENSv2 exclusively on Ethereum L1. Namechain development has ceased entirely.

Why Ethereum’s Breakthrough Changed Everything

Ethereum L1 scaled faster than predictions suggested. The Fusaka upgrade doubled the gas limit to 60 million in 2025. Developers now target 200 million by 2026.

Source: Ensdomains 

ENS registration costs fell from nearly $5 to under 5 cents in gas fees. This represents a 99% reduction over twelve months. According to the ENS domains blog, the gas limit increased from 30M to 60M during this period.

The math shifted dramatically. Subsidizing every 2025 ENS transaction would cost roughly $10,000 at current prices. Even peak post-Fusaka rates would total only $250,000. Running a dedicated L2 exceeds both figures substantially.

The Concorde Moment: Changing Course Mid-Flight

ENS started planning Namechain two years ago when L1 gas prices spiked regularly. Basic transactions cost tens of dollars. The Ethereum roadmap emphasized L2s as the scaling solution.

The organization invested heavily in Namechain partnerships and technical development. Many users viewed ENSv2 and Namechain as inseparable. Changing direction now carries real reputational costs.

ENS Labs drew parallels to the Concorde supersonic jet. Britain and France continued development despite shifting economics. The 1973 oil crisis made fuel-hungry Concorde obsolete before widespread service began.

“If we were starting today, would we build our own L2?” the team asked. The answer became clearly negative.

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What Survives the Strategic Pivot

ENSv2 development continues without interruption. The new registry architecture ships as planned. Users gain single-step registration and stablecoin purchases from any chain.

The ENS App and ENS Explorer entered public alpha testing. Streamlined registration flow eliminates manual bridging. Multi-chain support covers over 60 blockchains, including Bitcoin and Solana.

L1  avoids any CCIP-Read gateway. Legacy names do not need additional resolution layers, and hence the architecture is simpler and less prone to failures.

The deployment to L1 leaves Ethereum with its fundamental security intact. This do not alter any trust assumptions, therefore decentralization remains at its fullest as compared to any rollup.

Gas subsidies to the holders of Eth: When ENSv2 is released, ENS Labs may want to think about gas subsidies. Even the cost of avoiding L2 infrastructure is cost effective enough to do this.

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