Naming in Web3: ENS, Unstoppable, and Freename Compared

The quest for digital identity in Web3 isn't a zero-sum game. As we navigate this evolving landscape, three major naming services have emerged—each with unique strengths that serve different segments of the ecosystem rather than competing for total dominance.

ENS established itself as the crypto-native standard, deeply integrated with Ethereum culture and infrastructure. When you see a .eth address, you immediately recognize someone who lives and breathes on-chain. With names as NFTs and flexible resolvers, ENS offers battle-tested identity solutions for those embedded in the Ethereum ecosystem, despite traditional renewal requirements and gas considerations.

Unstoppable Domains took a different approach by creating a consumer-friendly experience with familiar interfaces and one-time purchases. They've focused on removing barriers through extensive integrations across wallets, browsers, and applications. Their strategy positions Web3 naming as an accessible product rather than a complex technical concept, making them an ideal gateway for mainstream adoption.

Freename stands apart by treating naming as a customizable ecosystem. Beyond personal domains, they offer the unique opportunity to own top-level domains (TLDs)—transforming users from participants to platform creators. This shift enables brands, DAOs, and communities to design identity layers that support their specific needs while creating network effects and potential revenue streams through each new registration.

The most strategic approach isn't choosing one service exclusively but leveraging the unique advantages of each. Own personal domains that represent you across platforms, diversify your digital identity portfolio, and for those building communities or brands, consider the transformative power of owning a TLD where your audience can gather.

As Web3 matures, naming will become invisible infrastructure—powering logins, payments, and identity verification seamlessly in the ba

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Freename.io is the leading Domains platform in Web3. Users can mint their own customized Web3 TLDs.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Updates
• 6:38 Which Name Service Will Rule Them All?
• 10:42 ENS: The Crypto Native Standard
• 12:35 Unstoppable Domains: Consumer-Friendly Approach
• 14:59 Freename: The Customizable Ecosystem
• 20:05 The Value of TLD Ownership
• 24:20 Future of Web3 Naming and Closing

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:32

do do, thank you. Thank you, gmgm, and happy friday. Welcome to our spaces, to our Tech Talk podcast. We record this every other week. This is a bi-weekly discussion where we highlight news, innovation, education, alpha and business development in the Web3 domain name space and in the digital identity space. I am your host, marcus aka Wint Airdrop. I'm the founder of iHeart Domains and we are your number one resource for unbiased Web3 and blockchain domain educational content, with over 25 recorded Tech Talks episodes and YouTube videos produced and archived over the past two and a half years. You can actually search our entire podcast archive for prior recordings and an easy-to-read blog overview of each episode at iHeartDebatescom. Prior recordings are also available in podcast format on every major podcast player, including Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheartradio, and those are easily reachable.

Speaker 2: 3:26

I'm going to open up, as I usually do, with some recent industry news. For those of you who aren't already aware, we have launched our official certification program for Web 3.0 and digital identity at learnweb3.xyz. That is an eight-module course that we have launched and created that takes pretty much beginners through the you know, from front to back, really the fundamentals of digital identity, from everything from understanding what crypto on the blockchain even is to you know, setting up a wallet, understanding digital identity, all those good things. So just launched that actually a couple weeks ago on the first. It is now live If anybody wants to take a look at that. We also have a community that is attached to this course to help anybody or assist anyone who is currently looking for employment or is interested again in asking any questions and learning about some of the basics of Web3. So, once again, you can find that at learnweb3.xyz. If you know someone who is looking to scale up or for a career change, you know this certification hopefully will expose them to the world of Web3 and potentially qualify them for some of the jobs that actually have Web3 as a requirement. Again, we've highlighted before and in other conversations that there are a lot of Web3 companies out there that, although you know they're looking for a marketing professional or they're looking for you know someone to handle you know anything social media management, community management, you know whatever it is they also need that person to have some sort of experience or have some sort of familiarity with Web3 in order to properly engage. Also, there's certain tools that are, you know, really native to Web3 that people in Web3 have utilized for branding and marketing and these companies need to know or need to have employees on hand. You know that they don't have to like train three or four times or retrain all over again to know these things. So yeah, once again, learnweb3.xyz. Let's continue to build and grow together. Let's share this out.

Speaker 2: 5:46

Um, and then the last uh announcement really just to keep it simple is once again registrations are available to our live for our own web3 tlds in our own catalog. So that is dot dgen, dot exchange and dot d5 wallet. We own these tlds Freename platform. Very easy to find your name and purchase your SLD by just going to iHeartDomainscom. Right there on the front page you'll see the option to click it. It'll take you right to the landing pages for each. Again, our domains are purchased once and on forever, so there are no renewals, and you can use them in places like metamask snap. You can use them with our free name dns or extension to resolve websites natively on your browser, or you can experiment with them on uh alternative upcoming browsers like carbon, who we just recently have a partnership with. Now that also now integrates our resolver and they will resolve there as well. Integrates our resolver and they will resolve there as well. And then also we've got this cool little neat integration that we just crossed the bridge or partnered with with Freedane, which is Strawberry AI, and that also has our API integrated, so you can go there and also ask for any information on a user domain or any records that you connect to it. It'll recognize those. Your domain or any records that you connect to it, it'll recognize those. It's a pretty neat tool and, again, it gives you a pretty good vision from where the space is going moving forward. Well, all right, all right. Now I'm going to get into the main discussion.

Speaker 2: 7:18

The topic for this space is it's which name service will rule them all? And I? The inspiration for this topic obviously is, you know, a lot of people are wanting to know the differences between each namespace, wanting to know the differences between each namespace. One of the things that I do over at Freename is I handle a lot of customer service inquiries and we get a lot of people who come to us who had experience in other name services and naturally, your first questions are comparative and sometimes in this comparison, we're under the misconception that one name service has to be the one that basically is the best. That's the crown jewel, right, if there's a Toyota, there has to be a Bentley. Right, if there's a Yang, there has to be a Yang. But the inspiration behind this particular topic is that, to an extent, yes, they the different name services that exist, especially the ones that we are most familiar with, they do very much so have differences, but those differences don't make those differences. I don't think don't don't create a scenario where they have to disappear in order for any of them to thrive. I believe that those differences kind of help create a total picture of diversity and value in our space. So, again, going back to the topic, which name service will rule them all? Today we're going to be talking about the top three name services and, again, some of the differences and some of the similarities and also some of the opportunities that exist for each, or if you're investing in each in the space.

Speaker 2: 9:02

So, again, every era of the internet has crowned a new kind of name. Right, web one, which is the first internet. It gave us the storefronts with dot coms. Web two is where we started really experimenting with social handles, right, so that's the advent of Twitter and Facebook, and this is really where that type of identity came into play. But Web 3 is different, right, your name isn't just a label, it's actually your wallet, so it's an instrument you can now use to get paid. It can be your login for decentralized apps. It can be your brand and apps it can be your brand and it definitely should be used for branding if you're already in the Web3 space, and it'd also be a token-gated access pass.

Speaker 2: 9:45

Right now, as we're continuing to build the space out, we're deciding really how those names are gonna work, who's gonna control them and how much power they give back to people in the communities. Again, there are three major players and there's a lot of players, right, so I'm not purposely leaving anybody out. I did have one comment on the post mentioning, like, bio Shout out to them. Got a chance to meet them in person. A lot of people love what they're building. Also, you know, shout out to other names out there SNS, et cetera. Shout out to other namespaces out there SNS, et cetera.

Speaker 2: 10:15

But today we're going to talk about the main three, right, the three that pretty much everyone is familiar with, and especially in my little book, right, and that is ENS, unstoppable domains, aka UD and free name. And again, understanding each one is key to kind of not only just choosing wisely, but again, maybe choosing all three, depending on what your needs are in the space. So one of the first things I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go through just a brief overview of each naming service and I'm really gonna give them their flowers and their big ups because, again, each of them do contribute something positive to the space. So E&S almost needs no introduction. It is the crypto native standard, right? It grew up inside of Ethereum, basically back when Ethereum was just first getting popping and becoming the beast. It is now, and it speaks the same language as the builders who essentially have created DeFi and NFTs and who have made on chain culture possible, created DeFi and NFTs and who have made on-chain culture possible. When someone sees a eth, it signals to them that I live on-chain right, names are NFTs, resolvers are flexible and the whole thing plugs neatly into Ethereum tool set. The trade-off is that Ethereum follows a very classic domain rhythm, right. So it follows something that we're very familiar with in the Web2 space, which is renewals.

Speaker 2: 11:41

There's also gas considerations. It's not as bad as it used to be. It definitely isn't as bad as it used to be, but there were, especially in the middle of, like the NFT bull runs, the bull run of 2021, et cetera. You know doing anything with anything that's on Ethereum chain, you know you probably could have used that money to do anything else. So gas is something to consider.

Speaker 2: 12:06

And then again, you know there's very much an Ethereum first world view. You know that kind of comes from the community, right, but if you're deep in the community, deep into the crypto stack, you're definitely going to feel right at home with an ENS domain If you want. The most battle-tested identity really inside of the blockchain. Ens is comfort food Again, give flowers where flowers is due. Now going to unstoppable domains, in contrast to that. And another thing as well Now going to unstoppable domains, in contrast to that, and another thing as well ENS, for the most part and completely right, ens would be considered a decentralized ethos. Who believe in smart contracts, controlling identities, not people, decentralization, controlling protocols and not people, et cetera. Suppose ENS comes super close to that and that is how they are set up.

Speaker 2: 13:07

I'm saying that because, in contrast to that, another naming service, which has equally as much presence in the space and stoppable domains, has approached it from a completely different perspective. They are a for-profit business and they've approached this as a consumer product. You know they've made getting a Web3 name feel familiar via the UI that most people are used to when they're searching for a regular domain name. You simply search for one, you find it and you pay for it with a debit or credit card. For all of their extensions, if I'm not mistaken, are all one-time purchases. So, in contrast again to having renewals, which most people are used to in the traditional dns space, and the same thing that you will you unfortunately have to still pay if you're in the ENS ecosystem. Unstoppable was, I believe, probably one of the first you know to market that they had no renewal fees. So that removes definitely the anxiety around, you know, having this bill that may be constantly on your shoulder, a bill that may not be the easiest to pay, because that's the other part too. Right, it's not the easiest to pay your E&S or renew your E&S if you're not crypto native, whereas If you had renewals in another centralized system, it may be just something as simple as setting your wallet or setting a credit card or auto pay or something like that. That's not the case, but again, they've spent these past few years building integrations across different wallets, browsers and apps so that a non-technical person can buy a name today and see it in working places right, if your goal is fast onboarding and broad accessibility, unstoppable is a friendly front door.

Speaker 2: 14:57

Now let's go to Freename again. Overview of Freename. Freename arrives with a different angle, so Freename treats naming like an ecosystem that you can design. You're able to make a personal name just like anywhere else, but you can also step behind the curtain and create the stage itself. So our system is multi-chain and I think Unstoppable is on a couple chains ENS, you meant it on Ethereum. So, again, to deal with any record changes or anything like that, you're going to be subject to Ethereum gas, but it will resolve basically to any EVM blockchain. So not multi-chain, but still useful for sending money to any chain. But again, you meant a name like anywhere else. Our system is multi-chain.

Speaker 2: 15:49

Our UX has the same modern look and feel as an unstoppable and our general mindset is let communities shape their own identity layer. If you're a brand, if you're a DAO, a creator network or a platform that wants naming to be a part of your product, free name is tuned for that level of flexibility and it is turnkey. So how do these things feel in real life? Again, you can use an E&S name pretty much plugs you into Ethereum culture. They resolve in most wallets, most dApps will recognize them and your on-chain footprint will follow you around An unstoppable domain. Right, it's very easy to get to the path from I bought it to. It works and they've made that really smooth for newcomers with different things like their chat groups and their profile pages. Again, kudos to them for building those. Those are very easy to set up and it helps you really connect it and make it usable and create that success moment.

Speaker 2: 16:52

And then use a free name name and you're going to notice how much room you now have to turn identity into a feature and into a business. Names can evolve into membership cards. They can evolve into payment destinations, of course, by connecting into your wallet to different profile hubs and for building blocks, whatever you're making, again, being able to own the TLD it opens up a completely different world of possibilities. All three agree on one big value and one big promise that names should be portable, they should be user-owned and they should be usable. They let you point to a human-readable name instead of a messy wallet string. They attach private profile data that you choose to share and you can carry this identity between apps without asking any platform for permission. This alone is a massive upgrade from Web 2. In practice, you'll probably see that people hold more than one, and this is why I say it's a good practice to be diverse, because then you're not missing out and you're able to extract the value from each of these ecosystems as you continue to grow.

Speaker 2: 17:59

Again, you want a very usable name across the Ethereum ecosystem, and ENS name is that. I've got my ENS. Iheartdomainseth, winairdropeth, etc. Can't negate the value. If you want something again that's posed for mainstream integrations. This company has a lot of big plans. We'll see how this pans out, but for me, it was a no-brainer to grab a couple of names on Unstoppable as well. So of course, I've got IRDomainsx, winairdropx, et cetera, et cetera. And then for projects that need custom identity, that need the ability to build a community, monetize that community token, gate that community and create an entire ecosystem behind their brand, we've got Freename and it's posed already for a multi-chain future.

Speaker 2: 18:47

Now this is when we're talking apples to apples again. On the naming side. You can't go wrong with any of these protocols. You really can. I need to stress that you really should not come to the table with a. Which one is best? I can only have one to serve my needs. Get what your wallet can afford. Get what's available to you.

Speaker 2: 19:09

Again, this space is way too new to start casting winners, and some people may already say, well, ens is a winner, because of course, they're already winning now. Sure right, but nobody likes it. There's no one thing that everyone on the planet Earth has adopted and has adopted just that thing. It's just not the way human nature works. In every single product, there's diversity, and again, with these three and many more, there's again many more naming services. Having your name on them, you cannot go wrong. They all execute as they're supposed to and they are all building.

Speaker 2: 19:41

But here's kind of where, again, the opportunity starts to differ, and this isn't distracting from the value of any of those other naming services.

Speaker 2: 19:50

It's just what it is right.

Speaker 2: 19:52

So, again, registering a powerful name is powerful. It's going to give you presence on the blockchain, but when we talk about owning a top level domain, which is the dot itself, it gives you a whole different presence. Now, this is something that is exclusively available through free name, and and by that I mean that, the opportunity today for you to go to a shopping cart, find a TLD that you like, purchase it, monetize it and start marketing it. Today, that is exclusive to FreeName. That is the opportunity that exists here, and this changes your role from participant to platform. There may be other platforms that have collaborated with projects to launch TLDs. You may be lucky enough to be one of those platforms with projects to launch TLDs. You may be lucky enough to be one of those platforms or projects to get chosen at some point. But if you ain't, if you're a one-man band, if you're a guy with a cool idea, if you got some friends in the DFW that you're trying to get into Web3, you probably ain't going to get picked by those other guys.

Speaker 2: 20:50

And the closest thing and the best thing for you is over here for your name. Just wanted to put that out there. But again, when you own a TLD, now you're not just another address on the street, you're one of the ones who is drawing the map. You get to define how your community shows up, how these names are issued, what they unlock, how the identity layer supports the product you're building. Musicians can turn fandom into their nameartist, daos can make governance feel native with their member namemydap. Games can brand entire worlds with player namegamertag. Educators, events, marketplaces, studios really anyone who thrives on community can now turn naming into a growth engine rather than an afterthought. When you own the dot, everything that you do now to promote that creates momentum and that momentum compounds and this is an example that I gave both yesterday and, I believe, earlier today Marketing.

Speaker 2: 21:55

One name is one thing, right, selling it to another person, and now they have it. You don't have it anymore, cool. But have you ever thought about that? Like, what a house? Right. And the house, I think, is a great example, especially when you sell a house you lived in for a while, you did things to it right. You made it, you fixed it up. When it was broken, you made patches, you personalized it, you put your love and your work into the home. And then there's nothing wrong with selling that home to another person If you needed to move on, if you needed to downsize, if you got the value that you needed out of it. But then you always get that buyer's remorse later because those memories that you built right, the work that you put in it, kind of disappears with it. And that's what happens when you sell a domain, right.

Speaker 2: 22:41

But when you're marketing a TLD, when you're marketing the dot, all of that counts and it compounds and it has value. Every single new SLD that's minted on it is a small billboard for your ecosystem. Loyalty from your community deepens now because namespace itself holds a meaning. It's a shared culture, it's not just a skew. And then, of course, there's an economic layer. As you build this branding, as you build this value, as you continue to build traffic, community, et cetera, now you're going to get people who are coming and they're buying this name and every single time someone comes and they mint an SLD on your TLD, you have an opportunity to earn income. Specifically, you earn 50% of the income of any SLD that's registered on your TLD and that can add up quite quickly. So, again, if you live and breathe Ethereum and the Ethereum culture and ethos, ens is a beautiful fit. And if you prioritize things like simple onboarding or consumer-grade experience, stoppable does land that plane. But if you're here to build a community or a brand, or if you want the identity to be an actual business and not just a bolt-on, free name is definitely where you'll feel at home. If you're thinking beyond personal names, if you're thinking about culture, about distribution, about network effect, owning a TLD through free name is the move that most people will only recognize in hindsight that most people will only recognize in hindsight. We are super early today.

Speaker 2: 24:20

Web3 naming isn't a trend. This is literally infrastructure. It is a part of how this space works. Right. It makes it make sense. It makes mapping things make sense.

Speaker 2: 24:32

In a few years, people will use these names without thinking They'll be signing in with it. They'll will use these names without thinking They'll be signing in with them. They'll be paying other people with them. They'll be proving who they are with them. They'll be participating with them. Just like DNS faded into the background while powering everything, people in the real world don't have a conversation about DNS and IPAN and words like that it just is. It works. People use it every single day without knowing what it is, and at some point, web3 naming will be just like that Unstoppable will keep welcoming the next 100 million users, dns will keep setting standards for the crypto native world, and free name will keep turning identity into ecosystems and giving founders, creators and communities the steering wheel.

Speaker 2: 25:21

The question isn't which one must lose. It's how you'll place your bets so you can win with all of them. Own a name that represents you really, because self-custody identity is the point of all of this. And if you're building something bigger than yourself, again consider owning the dot that your people can gather under. This is the rare move that turns an audience into a network, that can turn a product into a platform and can turn a brand into a place where people can collect and add value. Again, there's a million ways and a million reasons why we can say a TLD, a domain. Everything in this space has value and I'm glad that you guys pulled up here to learn. And again, every single day, we're continuously building, we're learning.

Speaker 2: 26:06

I'm super bullish on our newest integration with Strawberry. I think I've said that like maybe four or five times, probably dedicated a lot of time to it in this morning space, or five times probably dedicated a lot of time to it in this morning space, but it does represent again the progression of tools that are out there, that are already existing, that are already becoming smarter, plugged directly into our ecosystem. That answered the very questions that we thought held us back right. The same questions that we used to ask ourselves if you're not crypto native, if the ui is hard, if there's gas, if I don't know how to use a wallet, how will I ever figure out or care what any of these things are? And AI answers that question right.

Speaker 2: 26:45

Ai can make a user experience for someone extremely fast. It can make all those hurdles disappear in non-existence and it can even be personalized, automated and do all this stuff behind the scenes. So get ready for this world, get ready for this digital world, for this on-chain world, for this ai energetic world. Just like you needed a name when you were born, every single thing that start that appears on the blockchain, that exists on the blockchain, will also need a name and, again, can't go wrong with any of those other name services. But if you want to be on the building side of the equation with something that is turnkey, that's already primed for success, then that opportunity does exist with free names. So, as you're building your portfolio, as you're diversifying, as you're looking at your 100.eats, get 200.xs and cryptos, add a couple dot, whatever your brand's in there, and you'll thank yourself later Because, again, any of us that are here now early we've been saw where this is coming, but it's more evident than ever that we're on the right track and you know that our each and every day, our names no matter which names the space you're invested in are gaining relevance. Let's continue building a web where we actually own our own identity and, for the ones that are ready to lead, you can own your own namespace as well. Focus on your mission and not your condition.

Speaker 2: 28:08

Hope everyone has a happy weekend and happy demanding. Tomorrow is my birthday. I turned to Big 44. So if I'm AFK, that is why I'm going to enjoy my life and reflect on my time so far in the space. Again, blessed here to be with each and every one of you. Thank you for attending my tech talk. For anyone who is going to be listening to this later, or anyone who prefers to listen to this podcast format, again, this will be uploaded both on our website and on our podcast in the next couple of days. Again, happy Friday. Talk to you guys in the next couple of weeks. Thank you for attending our Tech Talk.