Google, which has recently been found to be holding a monopoly on web search, has taken a crypto-friendly decision amidst its ongoing legal battles in the US and the EU. As per a fresh update, Google has fully completed the integratigration of Ethereum Name Service (ENS) into Search. This feature was being tested with select users for a while and has not been made live for Google’s global users. Former Google engineer Nick Johnson presented the concept of ENS to the Ethereum Foundation in April 2016, following which, in May 2017, the first batch of ENS names were minted.
This development now makes it easier for people to search for any name based on the ENS domain, signified by ‘.eth’.
ENS can be explained as a decentralised domain name protocol. These Ethereum-based name domains are used by crypto users who wish to simplify complicated Ethereum wallet addresses to make them readable by humans. Otherwise, crypto wallet addresses usually comprise a bunch of random alphabets and digits that are not only difficult to remember in sequence but also maintain that these addresses are only readable by computers.
Nalin Basu, product manager for Web3 at Google, was the first to confirm the development of X, explaining its utility.
“You all asked for @ensdomains integration, and it’s live. You can search for any .eth name and get the balance right in Google Search! Kudos to the Search team for fully rolling this out!” Basu posted on October 9.
Around July 2022, ENS addresses emerged among the most popular liquid assets trading on marketplaces for virtual assets. Usually, easier ENS domains like ‘xyz.eth’ are usually more in value than others like ‘asd1as.eth’.
The same year, Google had reportedly first introduced this ENS feature to let Ethereum wallet holders track their Ether balances directly through search results.
Nike’s Web3 arm called ‘RTFKT’ and Puma are among global brands that have purchased ENS domains in the past.