I watched the podcast and read the article because I've been interested in trying to register one of these for a while. Here's one of many problems right now:
Given that the importing process uses a lot of gas, combined with high gas prices lately, it means that it can be kind of pricey right now. You may want at least a few hundred dollars worth of ETH in your wallet. We are actively working on vastly lowering this cost.
The gas prices are nuts and fluctuate
fast. I checked two .eth native domains about 3-5 minutes apart and the total price fluctuated $32 USD. The solution is simple though. They'll integrate layer 2 something or other blah blah blah.
I love the idea of blockchain based domains, but the technical barriers are
way too high to get any kind of traction from normal people. Yeah, Budweiser can throw $100k at it on a lark, but normal people can't. I posted some of this on another thread, but here's what my experience was trying to buy a .eth domain.
I looked it up and they claim it's $5 USD per year. I know enough about crypto to know everything needs a transaction and there's associated fees, so I signed up to an exchange and bought $100 CAD of ETH. I had to give an astronomical amount of information to the exchange, I now own a crypto "asset", and I'm probably on lists at FINTRAC (Canada's AML regulator) and the CRA (Canada's tax regulator).
Step 2 is to try to figure out the distinction between the .eth domain owner and the controller. Either way, I'll need to move my ETH into a private wallet to make sure the exchange controlled wallet doesn't end up owning or controlling my .eth domain. The exchange charges .008 ETH to transfer my own "money" to an off exchange walled. That was $25 CAD at the time
While I'm screwing around my ETH has increased in value to $125 CAD. Cool. When I originally checked I wouldn't have had enough ETH to complete the transaction(s), but maybe I do today since I'll have $93 CAD (~$75 USD) after the exchange takes their cut which has gone up to $32 CAD now.
I go search on apps.eth.domains. Attempt one the all in cost is $81 USD. 5 minutes later it's $113 USD. Right now it's $109 USD. So I still don't have enough money. I guess I should have put in "a few hundred" dollars.
Don't worry though. There's a plan to integrate layer 2 something or other to reduce the fees. So, what I've learned so far.
- I'll need to do 2 transactions on the blockchain.
- I might need two wallets (keys); one owner, one controller.
- I need a concrete plan to backup my keys (secretly) because there are no recovery options. I know this is technically a feature, but the risk of losing control is still there.
- The fees vary wildly minute to minute.
- The purchase "currency" is an asset as far as my government is concerned, so now there are complex tax implications and very likely extra scrutiny from regulators.
- They're adding an extra layer of complexity to reduce the fees at some point.
I wonder if people in the crypto world have ever dealt with anyone besides their crypto pals. Right now I can go to GoDaddy, put in a name, address, and credit card number and own a domain in about 5 minutes. It's way less friction, way less complicated, and it's
still too inconvenient and difficult for most people.
The blockchain is pretty cool, but the adult version of V-Bucks that are technically a taxable asset makes the whole thing unusable.
The great thing about this announcement is that I don't have to worry so much about trying to get a .eth domain since I can get the same functionality out of my .com if ENS gets popular.
