ENS Labs drafts proposal to activate ENSv2 and end new v1 registrations
ENS Labs has put a draft proposal before the ENS DAO that would activate ENSv2 on Ethereum mainnet and stop new .eth registrations on the current v1 registrar. Crypto Briefing first reported the draft, which the team posted to the ENS DAO Governance Forum on October 11, 2026 (Crypto Briefing).
For holders, nothing changes by force. The proposal keeps v1 owners where they are, and anyone who wants to stay on the old registry can, for as long as it exists.
The sharp edge for collectors is what happens to names that lapse. Under the draft, an expired v1 name becomes available for registration on v2, and the grace period for renewing after expiration shrinks from 90 days on v1 to 28 days on v2. Read together, that sets up a squatters’ market: every lapsed .eth name turns into fresh land on the new registry, and a holder who misses the shorter window loses the name to whoever registers it first. For a collection built on names people have held for years, that is the change worth watching. The grace-period figures are draft-stage protocol parameters and could still be revised before any vote.
Passage takes a single DAO vote, and until that vote happens v1 registrations continue as usual. The vote date has not been set.
