Ethereum Name Service (ENS) Scraps Namechain L2 Plans — Deploys ENSv2 Directly on Mainnet Thanks to Massive Scaling Wins
In a surprising but logical pivot, the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) has officially canceled development of its planned custom Layer 2 network called Namechain. Instead, the team will deploy the highly anticipated ENSv2 upgrade directly on Ethereum Layer 1 (mainnet).
This decision, announced on February 6, 2026, by ENS lead developer nick.eth, reflects how quickly Ethereum's base layer has improved — making a dedicated L2 unnecessary for their use case.
Why Was Namechain Planned in the First Place?
Back in 2024, ENS Labs revealed plans for Namechain, a ZK-powered, app-specific rollup designed specifically for ENS operations (domain registrations, renewals, updates, and on-chain identity management).
At that time, Ethereum gas fees were still a major pain point:
- Registering a .eth domain could cost several dollars in gas.
- High fees created friction for mass adoption of human-readable names in Web3.
A dedicated L2 seemed like the obvious solution to slash costs, speed up transactions, and improve user experience.
What Changed? Ethereum Scaled Faster Than Anyone Expected
The game-changer came from Ethereum's own network upgrades — especially the Fusaka hard fork (activated in late 2025).
Key highlights:
- Gas limit per block doubled — from ~30 million to 60 million.
- This allowed significantly more transactions to fit into each block without congestion spikes.
- Result: ENS domain registration gas costs dropped ~99% year-over-year.
- Real-world impact → Average cost to register a .eth name fell from around $5 to under $0.05 (sometimes even lower).
Nick Johnson (nick.eth) explained it clearly in the official ENS blog post:
"When we started planning ENSv2 and Namechain two years ago, the decision to build our own L2 felt inevitable. [...] Over the past year, we have seen a 99% reduction in the cost of ENS registration, coinciding with an increase in the gas limit from 30 million to 60 million."
Ethereum's core developers are already targeting even higher gas limits (potentially 200 million by 2026) and additional optimizations, meaning L1 will likely keep getting more efficient.
What This Means for ENS Users and the Ecosystem
ENSv2 stays on track
The upgrade is still coming — with features like:- One-step domain registration
- Support for cross-chain stablecoin payments
- Revamped registry design
- Better multi-chain resolution and developer tools
All of these will now launch natively on Ethereum mainnet, inheriting L1's unmatched security and decentralization.
No added trust assumptions from L2
By staying on mainnet, ENS avoids introducing extra bridging risks or relying on a separate rollup's sequencer/security model.Stronger signal for Ethereum L1
This move reinforces the narrative that Ethereum's base layer is scaling impressively — enough to pull back protocols that previously planned to migrate away. Vitalik Buterin and others have recently highlighted similar trends.Cheaper .eth domains = more adoption
With fees now pennies instead of dollars, registering and managing .eth names becomes far more accessible for everyday users, projects, and DAOs.
Community Reactions & Broader Implications
Crypto Twitter and analysts see this as validation of Ethereum's upgrade cadence:
- "Ethereum is pulling protocols back to mainnet."
- "L2s spent years reducing fees… now L1 is so cheap that custom L2s are losing their edge."
- Some point out ENS had partnered with Taiko for Namechain just months earlier — showing how fast things can change when L1 improves dramatically.
For the wider ecosystem, it raises interesting questions:
- Will more projects reconsider dedicated L2s?
- Does this accelerate consolidation around Ethereum's strongest security guarantees?
Final Thoughts
ENS's decision isn't an L2 rejection — it's a pragmatic response to reality. Ethereum scaled faster than predicted, gas became dirt cheap for ENS use cases, and the team chose simplicity, security, and maximum decentralization.
If you're holding .eth domains, building on ENS, or just watching Ethereum's evolution — this is a very bullish sign for L1's long-term viability.
What do you think? Is Ethereum mainnet becoming "good enough" for most applications again? Drop your thoughts below!
Sources:
- Official ENS Blog: "ENS is staying on Ethereum"
- Announcements from @ensdomains & nick.eth
- Coverage from The Block, Cointelegraph, Bitcoin.com, and others
Tags: #ethereum #ens #blockchain #crypto #web3 #defi #namechain #fusaka #scaling #ethereumupgrade