[Guide] Set up Your Own ENS Domain and Link an NFT to It!

Our crypto wallet address consists of long strings of random numbers and case-insensitive letters. It is almost impossible for a normal human being to remember the full address without tools. More importantly, as blockchain transaction is not revocable, if one of the letters is wrong, the crypto we sent over will be totally gone. Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is here to save the world! Through ENS, we are able to memorize wallet addresses in human-readable form, instead of randomised numbers and letters. There are some famous ENS domain names in the scene, say vitalik.eth, barmstrong.eth, fallon.eth, etc. Can you guess who is the owner of these domains?

Source: https://ethleaderboard.xyz/

Setting up an ENS domain is not only a fun experience, it can also represent you in Web 3.0. Without drilling too much into technical details, ENS actually works like an average NFT that we generally know. You can mint the domain name, and transfer or sell it on the secondary market, in the same fashion as NFTs. In today's guide, I am going to guide you step by step on creating (minting) an ENS domain name, linking it to your crypto wallet, and lastly, setting your NFT as your ENS profile avatar. Let's get it.

1. Visit https://ens.domains/

2. Connect your wallet.

3. Enter the domain name you wish to use.

4. Unable to mint if the domain name was registered by somebody else.

5. Search for other preferred names, and proceed if available.

6. Select period and register. If you select only 1 year, you will need to renew every year and pay gas fee every time. Also, your domain name may be snatched if it expired.

7. Confirm the transaction.

8. Wait for 1 – 2 minutes.

9. Click “Register” to mint.

10. Confirm the transaction.

11. If you see this page, it means that the minting of the domain name is successful. If you want to use it as your crypto wallet address, click “Set As Primary ENS Name”.

12. Tick the box.

13. Click the dropdown arrow.

14. Select the domain name you minted just now.

15. Click “Save”.

16. Confirm the transaction.

17. The linkage is successful! Click “View on Etherscan”.

18. Your address in Etherscan is now all changed to the new ENS domain name.

Setting your NFT as ENS profile avatar

1. Click the ENS name.

2. Select "Add/Edit Record".

3. Scroll down to the "Avatar" section.

4. Visit https://opensea.io/ and open the link of the NFT you wish to display. Copy the whole URL address starting from “0x…..” P/S: You must be the NFT owner.

5. Scroll down to look for your NFT details. Check “Token Standard”. Most PFP NFTs are ERC-721 tokens.

6. Fill in the avatar section with this format: eip155:1/erc721:contract address/token ID (paste the URL from OpenSea on Step 4). A green tick will appear if the format is correct.

7. Click “Confirm”.

8. Confirm the transaction and you are good to go.

9. Wait for a few hours (2 hours in my case), refresh the page and you will see your wallet avatar is now showing your precious NFT!

10. dApps are now showing your NFT too!

(Your ENS domain).xyz:

Uniswap:

OpenSea: (Click the refresh button)