It was hoped, even anticipated, that when new gTLDs started becoming available in 2014 there’d be a number of new ideas when it came to how they were used. But it’s turned out these were few and far between. One new gTLD that is about to do something different is .luxe from Minds + Machines, or MMX.
MMX has entered an exclusive agreement that will enable Ethereum's Ethereum Name Service (ENS) to be integrated into the services marketed by registrars. .luxe is set to shortly enter its pre-launch phases ahead of going on sale to the public from 6 November 2018. The Sunrise period for trademark holders commenced on 9 August and runs until 8 October. From 9 to 25 October a Limited Registration period runs for existing .eth registrants. Then from 30 October to 6 November an Early Access Program runs.
Under the agreement, any name of a registrant's choice in the .luxe registry (an abbreviation for "Lets U Xchange Easily") can be associated through the Ethereum blockchain with the 40 character hash identifier that currently denotes any Ethereum asset, item or service supporting Ethereum. As a result, a memorable .luxe name can act as the public identifier for an individual's Ethereum asset instead of the complex and long 40 character hash identifier.
MMX believes the market opportunities for the .luxe service are significant: specifically in the areas of cryptographic wallets, and the emerging sectors of smart contracts and decentralised apps (DApps).
For example, in the crypto wallet market, there are already over 26 million wallets in use. Currently, for two holders of Ethereum supporting wallets to transfer Ethereum or Ethereum-based tokens between themselves, the recipient has to provide the sender their unique 40 character wallet hash (eg. 0x314159265dd8dbb310642f98f50c066173c1259b) for the sender to then re-enter the hash to effect the transfer. Under the .luxe service, the recipient will be simply able to share the blockchain enabled .luxe word that they have associated to their wallet (eg. helen.luxe instead of 0x31415926dd…….). Wallets supported by the .luxe ENS service at launch will represent those used by the majority of Ethereum users.
The same process of replacing 40 character identifiers with relevant and user friendly .luxe names can also, in principle, be applied to all Ethereum assets or services - eg. smart contracts, distributed storage, DApps etc., making the potential addressable market for easy-to-remember blockchain enabled .luxe names significantly broader than just the crypto wallet market.
MMX and the keyholders of the ENS believe the secure association of understandable words to Ethereum items or services can significantly facilitate the movement of Ethereum assets, as well as usage of services based on the Ethereum blockchain, across the Internet by end-users.
In addition to the blockchain related functionality, .luxe will also allow names to resolve over the internet in the normal way for email or web-based traffic. Users will therefore be able to complement those .luxe domain names that they use for traditional internet activity with those that they use for their Ethereum related items or services.
