I bought my first NFT today – I am the proud owner of rushiluhar.eth. It was an interesting experience. Quite similar, in some ways, to creating my first website almost twenty years ago.
Some observations:
1. You need to know what you are doing 🤔.
The world of Web 3.0 is confusing and the UX .. leaves a lot to be desired. I used the most popular wallet – Metamask and bought rushiluhar.eth from ens.domains. None of these applications are for the faint hearted.
2. You need to be patient ⏳.
I wanted to use the domain to point to my newly created Ethereum wallet address. This involved two separate steps. First buying the NFT (yes, each eth domain address is a NFT), and then another step to link the domain to my ETH wallet. Each step involves a transaction, and each transaction takes at least a minute to complete. And given the costs involved (see below), the lack of feedback or clarity is .. perplexing.
3. You need to be rich 🤑.
ENS is run as a non profit, but you have to pay transaction fees. Which are crazy high, and change all the time. Buying a domain (like rushiluhar.eth) costs 0.001 ETH + the number of years you want to register the domain. So for 5 years, it costs 0.006 ETH – roughly $25 today. Not bad! *But* – the gas fees were (quoted at most) 0.043 ETH – almost $200! Making it my primary ENS domain involved another ~$85 in transaction fees. Ouch.
4. You need to be an exhibitionist 😬.
The blockchain is public! Every single transaction is visible. If you want to laugh at me paying exorbitant gas fees for buying a worthless vanity NFT, just hop on over to Etherscan and search for rushiluhar.eth.
5. You need to be slightly delusional 🤪.
The poster child of Web 3.0 (Ethereum) claims to become the World Computer. *But* current transaction fees put doing anything interesting on it out of reach of 99.9% of the world’s population. Something does not compute..
Also feel free to send a couple of ETH my way, you know the address..
Some Notes
Domain – You can buy your very own eth domain at ENS Domains but you will need a wallet, some crypto and a basic understanding of how ENS works and why you should bother.
Wallet – Metamask has integrations with a bunch of different Web3.0 sites like OpenSea, Foundation, ens.domains, etc. Its the easiest way to setup a wallet, just don’t forget your password.
Crypto – I would suggest using a reputed exchange like Coinbase to buy or sell crypto and then transfer a small amount to your Metamask wallet.
Why bother – A brief explainer of what else you can do with an ENS domain.
If you are interested in why I decided to spend a good bit of money on a ENS domain (apart from bragging rights on LinkedIn..) , check out this thread by Balaji Srinivasan.