Ethereum Name Service ( ENS ) is seeking approval from its decentralized autonomous organization ( DAO ) to enable the upgraded naming protocol on the Ethereum mainnet.

ENS Founder Nick Johnson has submitted an executable draft proposal to activate ENSv2, which is the next version of the protocol. If approved, this upgrade will freeze new registrations on the original ENS registrar, but existing domain name holders will be allowed to continue renewing their registrations.

This upgrade introduces a redesigned registry architecture that provides more flexible domain name management and permission settings. Upon activation, ENS Labs plans to transfer its remaining management control rights over the upgraded contract to DAO.

After the domain name record synchronization is completed, new registrations with the extension . eth will be migrated to the upgraded system. Johnson warns that during the transition period, newly registered domains on either version will be temporarily unavailable, and this may last for several hours.

According to the proposal, existing domain name holders do not need to migrate, and their names will continue to function normally. ENS Labs has still reserved the current .eth name for the current owners within the upgrade system, allowing users to migrate once they are ready.

The activation proposal is currently still in the draft stage and must first undergo voting on the chain via DAO before it can be implemented.

According to the governance rules of ENS, a proposal to be executed requires a minimum voting participation rate of 1%, which is 1 million votes ENS, and must gain majority support during a seven-day voting period. If approved, the upgrade will still require at least two days of lock-up before it can be implemented. The voting date has not yet been announced.