• $ENS launched the public Beta of its App and Explorer on Ethereum Sepolia, the final testing phase before mainnet deployment.
  • The Beta introduces the ENSv2 upgrade flow, customizable profile themes, resolver management, and new testnet payment options.
  • An audit competition with Immunefi will begin on August 18, offering a conditional prize of up to $70,000 for security researchers.

Ethereum Name Service launched the public Beta phase of its new application and protocol explorer on the Ethereum Sepolia testnet. $ENS begins with this launch the final large-scale testing cycle before the definitive mainnet deployment, introducing for the first time the upgrade flow toward the new ENSv2 architecture.

The Beta brings years of architectural redesign aimed at simplifying protocol integration across diverse blockchain environments. Users can register and renew names, customize profile themes, manage on-chain identity records, and configure specific expiration dates. A price cooldown widget is also included, explaining the new fee dynamics planned for the full launch. On the payments side, the Beta accepts mockUSDC and USDC from the official testnet, both with no real monetary value.

$ENS Tools Take on Different Roles

Although they share infrastructure, the App targets everyday users managing names and on-chain identities, while the Explorer is geared toward technical profiles that need to inspect contract data, transaction histories, subnames, and roles within the protocol. The Explorer now incorporates dynamic social previews, unified transaction flows, and dedicated pages per TLD.

The new ENSv2 registry deployed on Sepolia implies a clean environment: names registered in previous Alpha phases do not automatically migrate to the Beta. Those who participated in earlier tests must start from scratch.

Security First: Contest with Immunefi

On August 18, an audit competition in collaboration with Immunefi will kick off, running through September 14. The program offers a conditional prize of up to $70,000 depending on the severity of the most critical finding. Tests must be conducted on local forks, without interacting with the active Sepolia deployment or the mainnet.

The $ENS team did not announce a specific date for the mainnet launch. However, it indicated that timelines will depend on the results recorded during the Beta, a process that includes active coordination with wallets, resolvers, and infrastructure providers to ensure compatibility across the entire ecosystem.