Eth.link Restored After Ethereum Name Service Wins Injunction Against GoDaddy

The website for the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), which is behind all web addresses that end with .eth used across the Ethereum community, is back online after losing its domain name eth.link to a third party earlier this year.

Eth.link functioned as a critical bridge that allowed users without web3-enabled internet browsers to access .eth addresses. ENS had around two million domain name registrations as of Aug. 17.

True Names Ltd., the company that created ENS, sued GoDaddy (GDDY) in early September, alleging the domain registration platform had incorrectly told eth.link users that the address registration had expired, and that GoDaddy had later sold off the rights to the domain to a Web3 start up before it was supposed to be available for re-purchase.

ENS Domains announced on Twitter late Sunday that eth.link was back online and that users are welcome to resume using the service.

We're delighted to report that https://t.co/FjEunMklB9 is now back online! Our injunction was successful and the name has been returned to us.

Users are welcome to resume using the service - or keep using the excellent community-run alternative, https://t.co/RtCIwR276i.

— ens.eth (@ensdomains) September 19, 2022

In a complaint filed against GoDaddy in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, said the eth.link registration was set to expire on July 26, 2023. But in August this year, GoDaddy had incorrectly announced it had expired on July 26, 2022, the filing said.

The complaint also said the domain was then sold to Web3 startup Manifold Finance on Sept. 3., two days before it was supposed to go on sale again. Complicating matters further, the person with the power to renew the registration for eth.link, Virgil Griffith, is serving a five-year prison sentence for speaking about sanctions evasions using crypto at a conference in North Korea.

With the filing, plaintiffs True Names and Griffith sought damages worth at least $75,000 excluding legal costs, and a temporary restraining order against GoDaddy.

The website, eth.link, is back online as of Monday, and according to GoDaddy records, the address is now registered with another domain registrar Dynadot LLC, set to expire in July 2023.

CoinDesk has reached out to GoDaddy and True Names for comment.

Read more: GoDaddy Sued Over Sale of Ethereum Domain Name Service's Vital Eth.link Address