The governance token of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) surged as high as 72% on Jan. 3 after the domain platform received praise from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. 

In a Jan. 3 post to X (formerly Twitter) Buterin lauded the Ethereum Name Service as “super important” and reiterated that the service should remain accessible and affordable to all users of the Ethereum network, especially those on layer-2 networks.

All L2s should be working on (trustless, merkle-proof-based) CCIP resolvers, so that we can have ENS subdomains registerable, updateable and readable directly on L2s.

ENS is super-important, it needs to be affordable! https://t.co/Ice1lTttFE

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 3, 2024

“All L2s should be working on (trustless, merkle-proof-based) CCIP resolvers, so that we can have ENS subdomains registerable, updateable and readable directly on L2s,” said Buterin.

Buterin believes that layer-2 networks such as Optimism (OP), Arbitrum (ARB) and Polygon ( MATIC ) — which form an essential part of the Ethereum networks’ long-term scalability — should be able to register ENS addresses to further their ease of use.

The ENS token surged 72% in the wake of a tweet from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Source: CoinMarketCap

Shortly following Buterin’s tweet, the price of the ENS token surged from a yearly low of $8.50, climbing more than 72% to reach an eight-month of $14.7, per CoinMarketCap data . The price of ENS has since leveled out and is currently trading for $12.9 as of publication time.

ENS notched an all-time high of $74.25 on Nov. 28, 2021, around the same time that the broader crypto market began to tumble.

Related: ENS developers urge Unstoppable Domains to drop patents or face lawsuit

The Ethereum Name Service allows crypto users to purchase a “.eth” domain name. This can replace the complex string of letters and numbers that typically comprise a user’s wallet address, making it easier to transfer and receive funds between parties on the Ethereum network.

In September 2022, Buterin proposed introducing a 3% tax on ENS domain names, dubbed the “Harberger” tax proposal. Buterin said this would prevent the hoarding of domain names among early users looking to maximize profits, enabling wider adoption and more decentralized ownership of ENS addresses.

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