Current State of ENS “Digits & Numbers” Clubs, Q1 2023

April 2023 marks a pivotal moment for the renewal of most 999 and 10k club ENS domains. By April 27, 2022, the 999 and 10k Club had been fully registered. Only a week later, the 100k Club was fully registered. Almost all of these domains were registered for 1 year at that time, as knowledge of the ability to register a domain for less than a year was not yet as prevalent in the community.

And as April 2023 approaches, it will be time for over 4000 10k Club holders and over 400 999 Club holders to extend their domains or risk losing them to grace period and expiration. Let’s take a peek at the current state of the market.

The “999” ENS Club

As of February 2nd, 2023, the floor price for the 999 Club is just under 17 ETH with a collection offer in the 15 ETH range. Currently, there are three holders with 30+ 999 domains (one has 100+), and there are 472 unique owners. There have been 10 sales in the last week ranging from 15 ETH to 24 ETH (019.eth).

As the yearly renewal deadline for three-digit domain names draws near, holders are faced with the task of paying the current fee of $640, or approximately .4 ETH. Given the current state of the market, it is likely that the majority of these holders will find the means to renew their domains for another year. However, as the deadline approaches, there may be instances of last-minute sales as some holders take advantage of the opportunity to turn a profit.

The attention of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) community is currently on wallet holder 0x0f34b764e0462ef7e0664ca9bb7f6e431e6a958e, affectionately referred to as 👨‍🦲.eth. This holder has over 30 999 Club domains and everyone is wondering what their next move will be.

Recently, they sold two of their 999 domains at a loss in order to invest in prime Ethmoji digits such as 7️⃣8️⃣7️⃣.eth, 8️⃣7️⃣8️⃣.eth, and 9️⃣9️⃣9️⃣.eth, as well as participating in a general Ethmoji 999 Club sweep on February 2nd, 2023.

It is worth monitoring as April approaches how some of the big holders manage their assets. For more on Golden Bezos, please see an article Evan15.eth did last year.

The “10K” ENS Club

Let’s take a look at everyone’s favorite ENS stablecoin, the 10K club.

Hovering at the consistent peg of 1.25 to 1.3 ETH, after reaching all-time highs of 3.6 ETH in September 2022, the 10k Club has held well through the bear market, with all 10,000 domains registered and out of expiring periods (several are scheduled to enter grace period in February).

With over 4,000 unique owners and the top collection offer remaining within .02-.03 of the lowest-priced offering, the 10k Club remains the tradable stablecoin for domains.

11 wallets hold 50+ of the10k Club digits, while only 3 of those wallets have over 100+ of the 4-digit domains. With the 10k Club and 999 Club accounting for over 50% of all-time ENS volume (with over 40,000 ETH traded), the “Great Renewal” will be a barometer test for how the community feels about digits as a whole, and whether or not liquidity exists to keep the club active.

As of writing this post, the yearly renewal fee for 1000-9999 numbers is around .09-.1 ETH, a significantly easier pill to swallow for most holders, but nevertheless not an insignificant amount of ETH.

Also of interesting note, the Kucoin fractionalized digit coin called $hiENS3, SOARED this past week.

The relative trading price placing value on 10k digits at almost $10,000 each (currently the floor is around $2,000) and 999 Club digits at $580,000 (the floor is currently around $25-30,000).

This liquidity will be worth keeping an eye on, as it remains to be seen whether it’s an indicator of a potential run for the 10k Club itself.

The “Ethmoji 999” ENS Club

Greetings, Ethmoji 999 Club enthusiasts! During the last major digit bull run in September and October of 2022, the Ethmoji digits saw significant growth, with the Ethmoji 999 Club even reaching a floor price above .9 at one point.

However, as December 2022 approached, the club bottomed out around .15-.16. But, the arrival of Golden Bezos liquidity in February brought new life to the club, resulting in a .43 floor price after several substantial purchases above the floor price.

Mr. Golden Besos himself then swept the floor the next day, keeping the lowest available domain at around .4 ETH. Comments about his trading style aside, when Golden Bezos is active, the ENS community regains faith in liquidity and process, and we often see other clubs and domain types getting liquidity as a result.

ENS Club Conclusions

There is always the flavor of the week in Web3 and NFTs, and this is true for ENS Domains as well. But with the 10k club and 999 club having long been the barometer of liquidity in the ENS space, the “Great Renewal” will be an event that will potentially shape the next 12-18 months of ENS liquidity and focus.

The 999 ENS Club holders remain unshakably bullish on their assets, but the fact remains that April 2023, (not February 2023), is when we will know more about the short-term future of everyone’s favorite digits!