Coinbase's Base Network to Launch ENS-Based Basenames with Dutch Auction on December 5-6 in Prague

The Block has announced an exciting event called Emergence, happening on December 5-6, 2024, in Prague.

Base is rolling out a new feature called Basenames. These are subnames based on the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) infrastructure. They’ll be available through a Dutch auction.

Base is a Layer 2 network on Ethereum, developed by Coinbase. With Basenames, users can turn their complex hexadecimal addresses into easy-to-read names. According to their official site, Basenames will be a key building block for anyone looking to establish their identity on Base.

Now, let’s break it down. ENS subdomains are names created under an existing ENS (parent) name. This setup helps manage multiple ENS identities, similar to how subdomains work on regular websites. If you own an ENS domain like base.eth, you can create as many subdomains as you want. For instance, a user named Bob can register a basename like bob.base.eth.

When Basenames launch, all names will go up for auction using a Dutch auction format. Prices will decrease over 36 hours, giving everyone a fair chance to grab a name. The premium fee starts at 100 ETH and drops to 0.39 ETH in the first 12 hours. Once the auction wraps up, there won’t be any premium fee.

Jesse Pollak, the lead at Base, shared on X that Basenames will launch on Tuesday. He said, “We’re going to make basenames the easiest way to get started building (or living) onchain.”