ENS laboratoriesthe company behind the open-source blockchain naming protocol, Ethereum name serviceworks together Dentitya leading provider of digital identities, to integrate verifiable credentials into the chain.
The new integration allows ENS users to link their on-chain identity with their real-world identity, giving them the power to decide the scope of information they share, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday.
The development could have far-reaching consequences for the future of online identity. ENS users can maintain control over publicly accessible, personally identifiable information while ensuring that such information is not stored off-chain.
Khori Whittaker, executive director of ENS Labs, noted how the two companies are trying to bridge the gap between off-chain and on-chain identities by enabling users to have one true digital identity.
“Together with Dentity, ENS broadens the capabilities of Web3 naming, making on-chain identities real and usable across applications,” said Whittaker. “By linking real-world identities to on-chain personas, Web3 users can possess a verified identity to access real-world services without sacrificing decentralization.”
Similarly, Dentity users can now link their identity credentials to their ENS domain using the newly developed integration path.
Jeffrey Schwartz, the founder and CEO of Dentity, noted that “the next billion blockchain users won’t be crypto natives, and they probably won’t even know they’re on-chain.”
He explained that these users will use services that require identity verification in the real world, such as access to educational credentials, professional licenses and healthcare records.
“Advanced DeFi or traditional financial services will require real-world identity verification, as they go beyond what anonymous or pseudonymous blockchain transactions can provide,” Schwartz said in the statement.
By linking digital and physical identities, this integration can help facilitate the adoption of Web3 technologies across industries.
About 14,997 .eth names were registered in July, down 25.5% from the 20,131 registrations recorded in June, on-chain facts shows.
The number of registrations also represents a decline of 48% from the peak of 28,949 registrations in May.
The decline in registrations underlines the importance of initiatives such as the ENS-Dentity partnership in seeking to broaden the appeal of ENS domains to a broader user base.
On Monday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said registered a new Ethereum Name Service domain called “dacc.eth” for 0.187 ETH, worth approximately $500.
This move precedes Buterin’s upcoming discussion of “defensive acceleration capabilities” at an X Spaces discovery event scheduled for August 22.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair