From Names to Namespaces: When the Reader Is a Machine | Jeff Lau at Pragma Tokyo 2026

ENS Co-founder and CTO Jeff Lau explains why names become critical when machines hold keys, spend money, and interact with strangers. ENS replaced unreadable Ethereum addresses with human-readable names, but agentic systems require more than labels. A verifiable name can identify who controls an agent, where it can be reached, what permissions it has, and what records sit behind it. Social handles, Jack Butcher’s onchain artwork, company email domains, and service subscriptions show how names carry reputation and establish cryptographic trust. ENS namespaces let companies issue temporary names to thousands of agents while preserving accountability, rotating keys, and limiting authority. ENSv2 adds per-name registries, delegated issuance, constrained roles, and expirations without breaking existing resolution. Lau encourages builders to name agents, API providers to publish endpoints and terms through ENS records, and wallets to resolve names when displaying addresses. As models and keys change, durable namespaces can connect each machine to an identity others already trust. 00:00 Introduction and the Purpose of Names 01:37 Blockchains Turned Addresses Into Identity 02:17 How ENS Added Names to Ethereum 02:54 Ownership and Verifiable Naming 03:20 What Centralized Names Can Lose 05:01 Machines Are Becoming Economic Actors 06:24 Names as Structured Inputs 06:48 Jack Butcher and Verifiable Provenance 08:02 Brands, Reputation, and Chains of Trust 09:21 Namespaces Work Like Company Email 10:15 Trusting Roots Across Thousands of Agents 10:49 Identity and Context for Agent Services 11:13 Agent Payments and Company Subscriptions 13:16 The Missing Conventions for Agent Names 14:05 ENSv2 Delegation and Constrained Roles 15:52 Three Actions Builders Can Take Today 16:40 Durable Names for Short-Lived Machines _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 🇯🇵 *Pragma Tokyo 2026* Pragma Tokyo 2026 was held on September 25th at the Toranomon Hills Forum in Tokyo, Japan and was an in-person summit for builders and leaders in the web3 ecosystem. Watch the full Pragma Tokyo 2026 YouTube Playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT7ZDw43Z98U ETHGlobal's Pragma series takes place in cities around the world, and is designed to be a different kind of event. Pragma is a one-stage conference with founders-only on stage, bringing together a small group of curated attendees and speakers to discuss the future of web3 and reflect on the past. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ✅ Follow Jeff Lau X: https://x.com/Jefflau ✅ Follow ENS Domains X: https://x.com/ensdomains ✅ Follow ETHGlobal X: https://x.com/ETHGlobal​ Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/ethglobal Website: https://ethglobal.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCfF9ZO8Ug4xk_AJd4aeT5HA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Are you interested in Ethereum development and entrepreneurship? 👉 Sign up for the next ETHGlobal event: https://ethglobal.com/events 🎁 Get exclusive access and perks with ETHGlobal Plus! https://ethglobal.com/plus 📣 Want us to throw an event in your city? Tell us where! https://ethglobal.com/city