ENS Canceled Namechain L2 Launch: Are you sure Ethereum L1 Scalability is Enough?

Jakarta, Pintu News – Ethereum Name Service (ENS) has officially canceled plans to launch the layer-2 Namechain network in the ENSv2 upgrade package. Instead of building on top of a rollup solution, the team opted to release the new architecture directly on the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet, after name registration gas fees dropped by around 99% in the past year thanks to a series of network scalability upgrades.

ENS Cancels L2 Namechain Plan

In its latest blog, ENS lead developer nick.eth explains that Namechain is no longer necessary in the current market context. Namechain was originally announced in November 2024 to provide low-fee domain registration through a layer-2 rollup mechanism. At the time, the dominant narrative in the ecosystem was that Ethereum’s scalability would only come through L2.

However, changes in on-chain conditions made ENS’s priorities shift. The sharp drop in gas costs and the increase in block capacity made the cost savings from Namechain no longer worth the technical complexity. As such, the team decided to focus resources on refining ENSv2 directly on L1.

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Ethereum L1 Scalability Changes Strategy

Nick.eth thinks Ethereum’s scalability acceleration has exceeded expectations two years ago. The Fusaka upgrade active since early December raised the gas limit to 60 million, doubling from early 2025, while reducing transaction fees for on-chain applications. The core developers’ plan to increase the gas limit to 200 million by 2026, plus the planned integration of zero-knowledge technology, makes the outlook for L1 scalability even stronger.

This change in direction contradicts the long-held assumption that the Ethereum mainnet would not see a major capacity increase. In the early phases of Namechain’s design, the ENS team considered L2 to be the only realistic path to keep name registration fees down. Now, with L1 capacity soaring, building directly on the mainnet is both simpler and cheaper for users.

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ENSv2 Still Designed to be Interoperable with L2

Although Namechain was canceled, the development of ENSv2 continued and became the main focus of protocol engineering. The new version introduces a more modular registry architecture, an enhanced ownership model, and a more flexible name expiration mechanism. Each name will have its own registry, allowing for more granular rights management and resolution logic.

ENS also emphasized that the decision to stay in L1 does not mean closing the door to the layer-2 ecosystem. The design of ENSv2 is designed so that names in L2 remain interoperable with the registry in L1. The new registration flow will abstract the complexity of cross-chain transactions, so integration with rollups and secondary networks is possible without forcing the entire protocol to move to L2.

Conclusion

ENS’s decision to cancel Namechain and keep building ENSv2 on Ethereum L1 reflects a major shift in the network’s scalability map. Declining gas fees and rising gas limits make the mainnet competitive again as an infrastructure base, while the design of ENSv2 leaves room for integration with various L2s in the future. For users and developers, this move signals that ENS is choosing the path of technical efficiency without sacrificing interoperability in an increasingly complex cryptocurrency ecosystem.

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Reference

• Cointelegraph. ENS abandons plans for Namechain L2, citing Ethereum scaling. Accessed February 10, 2026.
• Featured Image: Cryptoslate