ENS has posted a draft executable proposal to switch on ENSv2, a new version of its naming system, on Ethereum mainnet. Nick Johnson (nick.eth) posted “[Executable] Activate ENSv2” on the ENS forum on 11 October 2026 at 21:46 London time [1].
CONFIRMED that the draft was posted. It has NOT passed. Vote timing and status are UNCONFIRMED.
The basics
ENS, the Ethereum Name Service, lets people use readable names such as “alice.eth” in place of long wallet addresses. “Resolution” is the lookup that turns a name into the address or other record it points to. A registrar is the smart contract that issues and renews names. A DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation) is a group whose token holders vote on proposals; an approved “executable” proposal runs code directly from the DAO’s timelock contract.
What the proposal would do
Once executed, the proposal “freezes new .eth registrations on the v1 registrar” and “hands ownership of the v1 BaseRegistrar to a renew-only contract” [1].
ENS Labs, the development company, would then “open registrations on the v2 ETHRegistrar; cut resolution over to v2; transfer every admin role it holds over the v2 contracts to the DAO.” The proposal says: “When that’s done, the DAO controls ENSv2 just as it controls v1 today, and Labs holds no privileged role in either.” [1]
“Activation runs in five stages… Only stage 2 needs a vote,” it says. “The executable makes 15 calls, executed in order from the DAO timelock.” [1]
On why, it says: “ENSv2 replaces the flat registry with a hierarchy of registries.” [1]
What it means for name owners
“If you own a .eth name and do nothing, it keeps working,” the proposal says. “There’s no deadline to migrate.” [1]
It adds: “v2 has a shorter grace period, 28 days rather than 90, so each name’s v2 expiry is extended by 62 days to make up the difference.” And: “Names that have already lapsed past their grace period aren’t carried across, and become available for anyone to register on v2.” [1]
On the gap between stages 2 and 4: “we expect it to be a few hours. During this time, registrations won’t be possible on either ENSv1 or ENSv2” [1].
The text is not consistent on renewals in that gap. One passage says “Renewals of unmigrated names will be possible once the DAO proposal executes”; another says “existing names can’t be renewed” [1]. TSN makes no firm claim either way.
For apps, it says all integrations need to “resolve against the UniversalResolver to make them v2-compatible”, and that “the majority of integrations are already v2-ready.” [1]
Risks
“The v1 freeze is reversible; migrating a name is not,” the proposal says. It lists risks including “No emergency disable on v1” and “No v1 registrations, ever”, the latter meaning v1 cannot reopen for registration without the DAO first reclaiming ownership of the registrar [1].
Early reaction
On the forum, delegate FireEyes said it “will be voting yes”, while criticising other issues in the DAO. That is a delegate’s opinion, not a result [1].
Sources
- nick.eth, “[Executable] Activate ENSv2”, ENS DAO forum, 11 October 2026. https://discuss.ens.domains/t/executable-activate-ensv2/22483
- Secondary: The Defiant, “ENSv2 activation proposal would halt new ENSv1 registrations”, 12 October 2026. https://thedefiant.io/news/nfts-and-web3/ensv2-activation-proposal-would-halt-new-ensv1-registrations
