ENS Defies Crypto Market Dump, Spiking 55% on Vitalik Endorsement

The Ethereum Name Service token is moving in the opposite direction to crypto markets today following a big endorsement by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. As a result, ENS token prices have made double-digit gains while a sea of red surrounds it. 

On Jan. 3, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Butering labeled ENS as “super-important” creating a flurry of trading activity for the token.

ENS is ‘Super Important,’ says Buterin

He said all layer-2 networks should be working on trustless, merkle-proof-based CCIP (Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol) resolvers. This way, “we can have ENS subdomains registerable, updateable, and readable directly on layer-2s,” he added.

“ENS is super-important, it needs to be affordable!”

Ethereum Name Service is a platform that allows users to buy domain names on the Ethereum blockchain. These domains can then be used to transfer and receive funds, replacing the alphanumeric wallet address. 

There are currently 2.1 million active ENS domains, with 801,000 unique participants, according to Dune Analytics.

ENS stats. Source: Dune Analytics

Vitalik has been very active on crypto social media recently. On Dec. 28, he reiterated the core values of Ethereum, harking back to its early days when it was more “cypherpunk.” 

A few days later, Buterin posted an updated Ethereum roadmap. “As Ethereum’s technical path forward continues to solidify, there are relatively few changes,” he said. 

Read more: Ethereum Name Service (ENS): Everything You Need To Know

His latest comments have resulted in a 55% spike in ENS prices. The token had started to retreat in the crypto market dump, falling to $9 in late trading on Jan. 3. However, it spiked to $14 following the remarks and has held gains into Asian trading on Jan. 4. 

ENS/USD 24 hours. Source: BeInCrypto

At the time of writing ENS was trading at $12.89, up 49% over the past fortnight. However, it was heavily dumped after the airdrop in November 2021 and remains 85% down from its all-time high of $83.40.  

Crypto Markets Dump $100B

ENS is one of the few digital assets in the green today as the rest have pulled back heavily. 

Around $100 billion has exited the space with total market capitalization declining 5.2% to $1.71 trillion.

Bitcoin dumped below $42,000 before recovering to $43,188 at the time of writing. Additionally, Ethereum lost 5.6% on the day in a fall to $2,236 during Thursday morning trading in Asia.

Other altcoins dropping double digits on the day include Avalanche, Dogecoin, Polkadot, Polygon, Shiba Inu, Uniswap, and Litecoin.