How Bad Is the Squatting Problem

ENS has been active since 2017. Basenames launched in 2024. In that time, automated scripts and early adopters have registered enormous numbers of names — not all because they intended to use them.

The scale varies depending on what you are looking for:

  • Generic short words (finance.eth, store.eth, pay.eth) are almost universally taken and have been for years.
  • Brand names of major companies: typically registered, sometimes by the companies themselves, sometimes not.
  • Startup names and new projects: often still available, depending on how much buzz they have generated.
  • Personal names: highly variable. Common names like john.eth or sarah.eth were taken fast; less common names often remain.

The honest reality is that if you run any kind of project with Web3 visibility — a token, a protocol, a crypto-adjacent service — someone has probably checked whether your name was available on ENS.

What Squatters Actually Do With Names

Most squatting is passive. Someone registers a name hoping to sell it to the obvious buyer at a markup. They hold it, pay annual renewals if the name is worth it, and wait.

More active squatters set up landing pages or point the name to their own wallet, creating confusion. This is particularly common with token names and protocol names where someone might actually try to send funds to yourproject.eth.

A smaller subset of squatters let names expire and then re-register them when the original holder does not renew. Expired name monitoring bots are real.

How to Check Your Exposure

The first step is a thorough check: your project name, your brand variants, your domain name without the TLD, your product names, your founders' names if they are public-facing.

Do not just check the obvious version. If your project is called "Stormforge Labs", check stormforge.eth, stormforgelabs.eth, storm.eth, sforge.eth — any abbreviation a user might type when trying to find you.

This tool runs all of those checks simultaneously against both ENS and Basenames. Paste the list and see which are taken, which are available, and when registered ones expire.

What Your Options Are If It Is Already Taken

Wait for expiry. ENS registrations run one to multiple years. If the holder is not renewing, you may get a window. Check the expiry date and monitor it. If it expires and enters the 90-day grace period without renewal, it will become available with a decreasing premium auction.

Make an offer. ENS names are NFTs. You can make an offer to buy the name on OpenSea or directly contact the holder by looking at their wallet. Many squatters will sell for a reasonable price if the name has no viral value.

Register on the other chain. If yourname.eth is taken on Ethereum mainnet, check whether yourname.base.eth is available on Base. With over 750,000 Basenames registered versus tens of millions of ENS names, availability on Base is often much better.

Build the ecosystem presence anyway. For most projects, the ENS name is a nice-to-have rather than a critical blocker. Document who owns the squatted name, establish your legitimate presence through official channels, and pursue the name through one of the above routes on your own timeline.

The Cost of Acting Now vs. Later

A 5+ letter name on ENS costs roughly $2–5 per year. The same on Basenames is similar. Registering both is under $10 per year.

If you later need to buy a squatted name on the secondary market, the floor starts in the hundreds of dollars and goes up from there for any name with recognizable value.

Checking takes two minutes. Start with the checker here.