Google quietly added ENS to Search

Searching by Ethereum address has been possible for almost a year

article-image

Sundry Photography/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Searching for an Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain in Google now yields on-chain information about its holdings.

The new functionality in Google Search appears to have been introduced without a formal announcement, and without the knowledge or input from ENS developers, who expressed surprise on X Thursday.

Loading Tweet..

The search giant has displayed information about Ethereum addresses using their 40 character hexadecimal string since May 2023, but the addition of easily readable ENS addresses appears to be new.

The update has developers wondering about the future utility of ENS domains.

“So if Google is resolving ENS names now, then we are a single field away from them also displaying an affiliated URL as part of the result,” said Sean Murray of Debanked. “And if they do that, then you really could tell someone your .eth name and they could get to your website just through Google, easy.”

ENS has been steadily expanding integrations since launching way back in May 2017 as a project of the Ethereum Foundation.

Read more: ENS partners with GoDaddy to enable users to link wallets to domains

Currently, domains can only be registered on Ethereum mainnet, however, the system is designed to work with layer-2 networks as well, and can be implemented by dapp developers.

Registration and maintenance of domains incurs costly transaction fees, but managing ENS on a layer-2 will require protocol changes, according to ENS team member serenae.eth.

“It’ll take some significant changes at the core ENS protocol level to allow .eth registrations completely off-chain (on some layer-2), basically the ENS DAO would have to choose a [layer-2] to ‘enshrine’ and tightly couple the [layer-1] registry with,” they wrote on the ENS Discord.

Projects like Uniswap offer free subdomains — e.g. foo.uni.eth however these are not yet resolvable by Google.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (11).png

Research

We believe that Exponent is best positioned to dominate the Solana yield market – the fastest-growing sector in the ecosystem – with topline liquidity increasing at an annualized rate of nearly 600%. The founding team (ex-Squads, Kamino, Solana Foundation) cares deeply about product, security, design, and user experience and understands the foundation for building a great protocol. The team’s deep ties in Solana DeFi also present a significant strategic advantage, as evidenced by Exponent PTs being onboarded as collateral on Kamino, Drift, and Loopscale before its main competitor, RateX. In this regard, we view PT integrations in money markets as the most compelling avenue for Exponent to expand its market share and own its vertical.

article-image

GUN tokens can be bridged from Avalanche to Solana as part of the team’s multichain strategy

article-image

Celestia, NEAR and Tron are pursuing lower inflation

article-image

This doesn’t change the fact that co-founder Roman Storm is facing a trial starting next week

article-image

In the age of AI, focusing on what’s right in front of you may be the best bet

article-image

Sluggish validators, consider yourselves on public watch

article-image

With President Trump’s sweeping domestic policy package now law, the US House is turning to a stack of crypto bills