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ENS Labs COO Brantly Millegan Steps Down; Ethid Digital Identity Project to Wind Down
ENS Labs Chief Operating Officer Brantly Millegan has announced his resignation from the company, marking a significant leadership change for the organization behind the Ethereum Name Service. Alongside his departure, Millegan confirmed that the ethid.org digital identity project will be gradually phased out.
Leadership Transition and Project Shutdown
In a statement released earlier this week, Millegan shared that his tenure as COO has ended and that the ethid.org initiative—a project aimed at creating decentralized digital identities linked to ENS domains—will be discontinued. He noted that existing team members have already begun searching for new employment opportunities.
As a result of these changes, several ongoing projects under the ENS Labs umbrella are expected to cease operations within the next few weeks. These include GrailsMarket, ENSMarketBot, and the Ethereum Follow Protocol (EFP). While the active development and maintenance of these tools will stop, the underlying code for each project will remain open source, allowing the community to fork or continue the work independently.
Implications for the ENS Ecosystem
The departure of a key executive and the shutdown of multiple projects represent a notable shift for ENS Labs, which has been a central player in the decentralized naming space. Ethid.org was positioned as a bridge between ENS domains and broader digital identity use cases, including verifiable credentials and web3 profiles. Its phase-out raises questions about the immediate future of those integrations.
Community Reaction and Next Steps
Reactions within the ENS community have been mixed, with some expressing concern over the loss of momentum for digital identity initiatives, while others view the open-sourcing of the code as a positive step toward community-driven development. ENS Labs has not yet announced a replacement for Millegan or detailed plans for the resources previously allocated to the phased-out projects.
Conclusion
Brantly Millegan’s resignation and the winding down of ethid.org mark a period of transition for ENS Labs. While the organization continues to support the core ENS protocol, the discontinuation of several auxiliary projects signals a strategic refocus. The open-source availability of the code ensures that the work done on these initiatives can still serve as a foundation for future innovation within the decentralized identity space.
FAQs
Q1: Why is Brantly Millegan leaving ENS Labs?
Brantly Millegan announced his resignation as COO of ENS Labs, but did not provide specific reasons for his departure. The move appears to be a personal decision, and he has not detailed his future plans.
Q2: What will happen to the ethid.org project?
The ethid.org digital identity project will be gradually phased out. The code will remain open source, allowing the community to fork and continue development if desired.
Q3: Which other projects are being shut down?
In addition to ethid.org, the projects GrailsMarket, ENSMarketBot, and the Ethereum Follow Protocol (EFP) are expected to cease operations within the next few weeks. All related code will be made open source.
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