# ENSv2 activation on Ethereum goes to a vote Author: Hatice Ertaş Language: English Published: 2026-10-20T07:29:47+03:00 Updated: 2026-10-20T14:07:23+03:00 ![Conceptual hierarchical network of illuminated connections linking an ENS-marked ceramic identity tag to smaller tags](https://kriptometa.com/uploads/ensv-nin-ethereum-da-acilmasi-oylamaya-sunuldu-3793502dd826_article.webp) ## Key takeaways - The vote to activate ENSv2 on Ethereum mainnet is ongoing; the new version has not yet opened. - Existing .eth names would keep working and remain renewable, with no mandatory migration deadline. - Blockful says four of its eight findings are resolved, three have planned fixes and one remains open. The decision to activate Ethereum Name Service’s next version is now before the ENS DAO. The transition plan addresses name owners’ rights and administrative control, with technical issues still to resolve before execution. Ethereum Name Service announced in its [October 19 statement](https://x.com/ensdomains/status/2112169981748326839) that voting to activate ENSv2 on Ethereum mainnet was live. The ENS DAO’s [governance page](https://ens.gov.blockful.io/proposals/51915723803355532053585313225201979004629663092454892570706465301184496475762) shows the vote as ongoing, with an October 25 closing date. Moving new registrations from the old version to the new one depends on the [proposal passing and being executed](https://kriptometa.com/en/dao-governance-analysis). The transition proposal, [first posted for discussion by nick.eth on October 11](https://kriptometa.com/en/ensv2-draft-new-eth-registrations), was submitted onchain on October 18, according to Blockful’s review. The current text also resolves the earlier draft’s conflicting statements about renewal access: existing names would remain renewable through the ETHRenewerV1 contract during the interval when new registrations are paused. [ENS](https://kriptometa.com/en/glossary/what-is-ens) lets people use readable names instead of long blockchain addresses. The new version replaces the single registry used since 2017 with a hierarchy in which each name can manage its own subnames. A subname owner could, for example, receive permission to change the address a name points to without receiving permission to transfer ownership. ## New registrations would pause; renewals would remain open The proposal combines 15 [smart contract](https://kriptometa.com/en/glossary/smart-contract) calls into one transaction to stop new v1 registrations and set the permissions needed for the transition. ENS Labs would then perform a final sync to capture names registered or renewed since the initial preparation. The team expects the interval without new registrations on either version to last a few hours, depending on the sync; no firm maintenance start time has been announced. Existing .eth names would keep working even if their owners do not migrate them. Renewing a name would also extend its reservation for the same owner on ENSv2. The proposal states: “There’s no deadline to migrate.” Owners would be able to move through the ENS app when ready, while locked rights previously granted to subname holders would carry across. ENSv2 would reduce the renewal grace period from 90 days to 28. To compensate, 62 days would be added to a migrated name’s v2 expiry date, preserving the total protection period. Names already past their grace period would not be reserved for their previous owners. Individual migrations would be irreversible because the old name [NFT](https://kriptometa.com/en/glossary/nft) would be held in the Graveyard contract, which cannot return it. Registrations and renewals would use the pricing previously approved by the DAO in EP 6.43, with payments in the [stablecoins](https://kriptometa.com/en/glossary/stablecoin) USDC or DAI. Once the proposal is executed, renewals of unmigrated names would also require payment in USDC or DAI. Blockful notes that renewal tools paying only in [ETH](https://kriptometa.com/en/glossary/ethereum-ether) would need changes, and reports that ENS Labs plans to restore ETH payments in the fourth quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027. ## What remains unresolved in the review? [Blockful’s review, updated on October 19](https://discuss.ens.domains/t/executable-activate-ensv2/22483/9), says it reconstructed all 15 calls and found that they matched the onchain proposal data. Four of its eight findings are resolved, three have been acknowledged by ENS Labs with fixes planned, and one remains open. Resolved issues include the intended recipient of .eth control and the destination of fee payments. **A temporary control risk for HCA accounts.** Blockful says the HCA accounts used to simplify registration to one signature rely on Rhinestone’s transaction-sending service. Theft or misuse of the single key able to change that service’s code could allow remaining v1 names belonging to users who approved the migration helper to be transferred to another address. The review says exposure begins only after execution and that the identity of the temporary key holder remains an open question. According to Blockful, Rhinestone plans to make the service immutable, using new deployments for future upgrades, in the fourth quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027. The review’s unresolved low-severity finding concerns fixes in contracts replaced on October 18 that are not covered by the published audit reports. Blockful asks for an auditor review or published sign-off on the October 18 contract changes before execution. ## Administrative control would transfer after launch ENS Labs commits to handing its launch-time administrative roles to the DAO after the final sync and activation, relinquishing its own access and publishing verifiable handover transactions. The security council would retain control of the intermediate Universal Resolver contract used to switch name resolution to v2, including the power to upgrade it without a vote. The DAO would retain the power to redirect the main resolver through a separate proposal. The [0:25–1:18 section of ENS’s May 20, 2026 ENSv2 Explainer video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLT1Wsu9Hu8&t=25s) explains the Universal Resolver and the registry structure that assigns separate permissions to subnames. The official ENSv2 page also links to the May recording for an explanation of name and subname management. ENS’s official October 19 announcement of the activation vote: [ENS — ENSv2 activation vote](https://x.com/ensdomains/status/2112169981748326839)