Thread by @TheNorwegianNFT

1/ The Ultimate Guide on #ENS Surnames 🧵

👉 Why ENS will win the personal ID space
👉 My opinion on surname domains
👉 Why surnames are the biggest asymmetrical bets in the domain space
👉 How you can register great (and cheap) names

#ENSDomains #Domains #NFTCommunity

2/ If you're not too familiar with ENS, start by reading this great in-depth article by @FleekHQ detailing the domain's capabilities.

(It's amazing to see what they outlined in 2020 is becoming a reality...)

blog.fleek.co/posts/why-ens-…

3/ With the semantics out the way, and with a clear understanding of why web 3 domains are highly significant technological innovations, let's get to it.

4/ First, is ENS the option for web 3 domains? No. There are other alternatives, like UD or Handshake.

For UD, one advantage is that you don't need to pay any renewal fees, ever. They also have a brand protection feature, which – in all honesty – is great for businesses.

5/ That being said, see the insightful analysis from @MattGarciaEth displaying the sheer dominance of ENS in terms of highest sales.

https://twitter.com/MattGarciaEth/status/1473291161888595973

6/ Additionally, ENS has unquestionably won the people, the masses – and Twitter.

So if you're an INDIVIDUAL finding yourself having some love for web 3 domain providers other than ENS, read this great thread by @Brommhill before you do anything.

https://twitter.com/Brommhill/status/1490048112190271492

7/ Now that we've established the importance of web 3 domains, and why ENS is likely to win (the winner takes it all in tech), let's introduce surnames.

parkersoftware.com/blog/the-tech-…

8/ Surnames, like first names, are personal identifiers.

ENS has already won as personal IDs. ENS has been recognized as the go-to web 3 domain on Twitter, with 400k unique users and 1.2m registrations. However, ENS has yet to win when it comes to global mass brand adoption.

9/ Obviously some major brands have already onboarded the ecosystem (e.g. @budweiserusa with its beer.eth, and @PUMA), but compared to celebrities, artists, and athletes, the big brands has yet to onboard en masse. With that in mind, with UD's brand protection mechanism in mind,

10/ and with businesses lack of need for "pure decentralization", I personally believe buying brands and businesses' domain names are much riskier compared to buying personal domains. But what makes surnames so special?

11/ The reason is monetization. I'll repeat it: the reason is monetization.

Before we dwell further into this, let's head over to web 2 land for a second – with a list of the record-selling DNS domains (thank you, @Kevforking)

https://twitter.com/Kevforking/status/1533183127052505088?s=20&t=sqjCybNAjCFjAN2_xTqbuw

12/ The reason Business.com sold for $345m, or Insurance.com sold for $35m is monetization. No sane individual on the planet would buy a domain for 300 million for the flex. No sane person would buy a domain for millions without the ability to profit.

13/ In this regard, the difference between DNS and ENS cannot be overstated – especally when it comes to personal IDs. Because WHY would anyone want their own name as their .com address, if you don't plan to monetize your "brand" (i.e. your name)?

14/ If you're a blogger, fine. If you're a celebrity, an artist, or an athlete, fine. But if you're like me (a regular person), there's literally no point in creating a .com domain. Having an e-mail address, an Instagram username and a Twitter handle is more than sufficient.

15/ This is where understanding the ground-breaking innovative features of ENS is crucial, as ENS could potentially make millions (if not billions) of people register their own domain in 5-10-20 years.

16/ We're in the midst of the greatest digital transition in human history. Imagine our screen time 5 years ago compared to today. Imagine our screen time (or digital presence) when Meta releases their virtual world, or when Gucci or Adidas is selling more virtual clothes than

17/ physical clothes.

Goldman Sachs, MacKinsey, and others, view the Metaverse as a trillion dollar opportunity, so claiming that blockchain will be an integral part of hundreds of millions of people's lives is not a farfetched thought at all.

mckinsey.com/industries/ret…

18/ The reason why all top selling web 2 domains are businesses is because they see an opportunity to PROFIT on their investment. The problem with DNS for regular people though, is that there are very few opportunities to profit.

19/ There is literally no logical reason for "John Smith" to ever want to buy Smith.com when competing with Schlumberger (86k employees and a revenue of $26bn).

Why would John want to pay $100k for the domain, despite it being a cool flex at next week's party?

20/ However, with ENS it's different. With ENS, John can monetize his domain. John could add multiple subdomains, and due to ENS' decentralized nature, the subdomain owner (e.g. Marie.Smith.eth) would have complete control over her domain, because if the 'root'

21/ ever were to expire, you as a subdomain owner could simply renew it, thus never risking expiration.

If John were to add subdomains for Marie, Peter, John, James, Mary-Anne, George, Michael, in addition to hundreds of other Smith's, the risk of expiry is practically zero, as

22/ all the subdomain owners would never allow the domain to expire. And as John continues to onboard hundreds of Smith's, his web 3 domain would suddenly become an investment vehicle.

An investment vehicle for John – and a highly practical subdomain for the Smith's.

23/ As a thought experiment, imagine John sells his subdomains for 0.1E each, with 1000 Smith's onboarded. The root domain Smith.eth has suddenly yielded 100E. Now, factor in the fact that ENS could serve as a "traditional domain" as well, that is,

24/ you could set up your own website (just like DNS). Then factor in all the other benefits. Factor in the fact that there are 4.5 million Smith's. Would John be willing to purchase Smith.eth for 200E? Maybe.

Now, imagine if John Smith leases his subdomains for an annual fee,

25/ suddenly Smith.eth would be transformed into a cash-flow generating machine (dependent on the amount of leasers and the annual fee).

And as web3 and the ENS ecosystem continues to grow, the subdomain value would only increase.

👇 Show more 👇

26/ As an interesting (and important) side note: Lego.eth was just purchased for 30E. See what the owner and legend @4lmnc has to say about subdomains.

https://twitter.com/4lmnc/status/1534499177614524419?s=20&t=C7VnRsxwPToMt3Vo2q-x-w

27/ See what the lead developer of ENS & The Ethereum Foundation, @nicksdjohnson, has to say when asked about subdomain leasing 👇 PS: This is huge.

28/ The ramifications of subdomain leasing is nothing but monumental. Being able to easily lease subdomains would provide every owner of good personal domains a great opportunity to profit on their investment.

So how much exactly would John be willing to pay for Smith.eth? 👇

29/ I find surnames to be much better fitted for subdomain leasing (and monetization) than first names.

Obviously James.eth is a grail – and many would want its subdomains – but James.eth is first and foremost great for the root owner, whereas Smith.eth is great

30/ for every subdomain owner (recall the typical e-mail/username structure: first name + last name).

And if web3 is to take over the world, some centralization (security) will be necessary for adoption. That means less anons and more real – and personal – names.

31/ With soul-bound tokens, where you may have your driver's license, your credentials, your POAPs and more, you will have them transfered to your personal ENS name.

What will be most used: JohnSmith or SmithJohn?

What do you say HiltonParis? (oops I mean @ParisHilton)

32/ Thus far, great memes, big brands, and first names have traded at a premium over surnames. But I believe surnames to be the biggest monetization opportunity for individuals in domain history, so I consider surnames to be the biggest asymmetrical bet in #NFTs and #ENS.

33/ If you follow (or agree with) this premise, how on earth do you find great unregistered names?

Introducing... forebears.io/earth/surnames

And ens.vision/tools

34/ Before I give away the ultimate surname registration approach, I will share two insights:

👉 Registering surnames with 5 letters (or more) is the best play (ROI wise)
👉 There is already a market TODAY for surnames with 10k bearers, especially in developed countries.

35/ The first point doesn't require a lot of explaining: You can register 5 letter (+) domains for YEARS for less than 0.02E if you're smart with timing gas fees.

The second point requires a bit more explaining. I base the 10k threshold on research, personal empiry, and more.

36/ I asked IRL and NFT friends how many people bear the same surnames as themselves, and how much they'd be willing to pay for their correspond ENS surname.

The highest answer was 0.8E with 50k bearers (Norway), and the lowest was 0.1E with 8k bearers (USA).

37/ Personally, my surname has 30k bearers, and I'd be willing to pay at least 0.5E to get it. However, I acknowledge the fact that I'm an outlier, so I also base my view on offers I have RECEIVED (e.g. an offer of 0.15E for a surname with 50k bearers and

38/ an OTC offer of 0.25 for a surname with 20k bearers).

Based on offers I (or others) have received, the current market, the subdomaining possibilities, and the rapid growth in the ENS ecosystem, a conservative estimate would be 0.1E per 10k bearers (in developed markets).

39/ You can literally mint surnames with 50k or more bearers TODAY for 0.01E / $20. So let's get straight to the alpha... 👇

Step 1) Search "French/Indian/Desired country surnames Forebears" on Google

Step 2) Find the "most common list". Copy it & export to Excel

40/ Step 3) Copy surname column and paste in ENS Vision bulksearch tool (you can now literally see the availability for hundreds of the most popular surnames in any country in seconds)

Step 4) Scroll pages until you find green (available) domains.

Step 5) Research. Register 🎉

41/ When you find available surnames, doublecheck them on Forebears.io.

For instance, Lesage.eth is available, with 30k bearers (predominently in France). "Lesage" gives 12m Google hits, and multiple business hits.

42/ Lesage is a French nickname for "wise man". Lesage is a brand and embroiderer that has had collabs with Chanel, Ballenciaga etc. But most importantly: it is a relatively populare surname with 30k bearers, available for registration for a very low cost.

43/ In the following I will provide you some good names. But the biggest alpha you'll have to search for yourself.

A tips: Search for "Countries with most crypto users" - the result might surprise you. Hint: Your american friend's surnames is not necessarily the play.

44/ Some available good surnames (DYOR, NFA) 🔥

France 🇫🇷: Lesage (30k bearers, 12m Google searches), Charrier (23k, 6.5m) Pineau (22k, 9.4m), Bodin (30k, 14m)

Spain 🇪🇸: Del-rio (26k, 2.5bn*), Saiz (34k, 45m*), Miralles (30k, 15m)

45/
Nigeria 🇳🇬 (32% of Nigerians use crypto!): I won't disclose the names. Find them yourselves. PS: There are two 4 letters names available with 500-600k bearers.

finance.yahoo.com/news/countries…

46/ Time to wrap up the thread 👇

I hope I have provided you with some insight, both on why ENS may end up as the leading (personal ID) domain provider; on why surnames will be increasingly attractive as the space grows; and how to find great unregistered surnames at a low cost.

47/ To conclude:
I am confident ENS will win as a personal identifier.
As ENS and web3 adoption grows, I believe surnames will outperform most (if not all) ENS categories.

48/ That is why I believe surnames – at least if aquired at a relatively low cost – is the most obvious play in ENS as of this moment.

I will repeat it once more: It's all about monetization.

49/ If you read all the way through, thank you.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback on my thread, and I would greatly appreciate a RT on the first tweet 👇👇 if you found the information somewhat valuable

See you on the other side, frENS 💘

https://twitter.com/TheNorwegianNFT/status/1534677355712720896?s=20&t=C7VnRsxwPToMt3Vo2q-x-w