[TEMP CHECK] Acquire Pay.eth for Treasury Branding & Payments UX

[pr0]

Acquire Pay.eth (and optionally Hey.eth) for Treasury Branding, Payments UX & Wallet Growth

Author

pr0

Date

2026-02-06

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Simple summary

This ARFC proposes that Aave DAO acquire Pay.eth (and optionally Hey.eth) as strategic, treasury-held ENS assets for branding, payments-oriented UX, and wallet growth. Ownership would be held by an Aave-controlled Safe/multisig, using a secure escrow/transfer process.

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Motivation

ENS names increasingly serve as user-facing identifiers across wallets, apps, and onchain flows. Pay.eth is a scarce three-letter, category-defining name aligned with payments and fintech use cases. Hey.eth is a similarly short, high-recall name that can support onboarding, community touchpoints, and distribution.

Together, these names could support wallet growth by giving Aave simple, memorable public endpoints that can be used across campaigns, integrations, and product surfaces.

Potential wallet-growth loops enabled by Pay.eth / Hey.eth:

• Onboarding + referrals: pay.eth as a branded receiving alias; hey.eth as a lightweight onboarding/CTA endpoint across campaigns.
• Campaign attribution: consistent, human-readable endpoints for ecosystem promotions (easier tracking + recall).
• Brand recall: short universal words that outperform long addresses in social and community distribution.

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Specification

• Assets:
  • Primary: Pay.eth
  • Optional add-on / bundle: Hey.eth
• Recipient (custody): Aave DAO Safe / multisig (TBD)
• Purchase cap: TBD
  • Option A (bundle): one combined cap for Pay.eth + Hey.eth
  • Option B (separate): individual caps for each name
• Settlement assets: ETH / USDC
• Execution approach (recommended):
  1. Proof of control: seller signs messages from the controlling address(es) proving authority to transfer Pay.eth (and Hey.eth if included).
  2. Escrow / settlement setup: use reputable escrow / marketplace flow (or DAO-approved direct settlement).
  3. Settlement: DAO transfers funds per agreed terms (escrow strongly preferred). ENS name ownership is transferred to the Aave DAO Safe.
     Verification: confirm onchain ownership (DAO Safe as owner). Any resolver/records updates should be treated as separate reviewed actions.

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Risk considerations

• Verify the exact ENS names (pay.eth, hey.eth) and the receiving Safe address before executing.
• Ensure Safe threshold/signers meet Aave DAO custody requirements.
• If resolver records are updated post-transfer, treat that as separate, reviewed actions.

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Implementation / Next steps

• Collect community feedback on:
  • whether to pursue Pay.eth only or a bundle including Hey.eth
  • proposed purchase cap(s)
  • receiving Safe and custody policy
  • preferred execution path (escrow vs direct)
• If consensus forms, proceed to Snapshot / formal governance vote with:
  • final cap(s) and settlement asset(s)
  • execution steps and responsible signers/committee (if applicable)

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Disclosure

pr0 is the current owner for Pay.eth (and Hey.eth, if included) and will provide proof-of-control prior to any settlement.

• Yes pursue Pay.eth only
• Yes pursue Pay.eth + Hey.eth as a bundle
• No do not pursue
• Abstain / need more info

[Nandy.eth]

Please check back your post Markdown as it’s not well formatted. Please also add a Disclaimer section and list on this one all affiliation you have with Pay.eth current owner and all affiliation you have with ENS Domain.

[EzR3aL]

Hello,

im being honest here, I don’t know the reason for this proposal or the benefit of buying these ENS.
Do we just assume price go up and then sell? So basically the DAO becomes a trader?

I dont think thats the business model.

[notrustverify.ch]

We see this as a nice try to monetize a special ENS domain the author could secure, not as a real opportunity for the DAO.

[MarcZeller]

We have no interest in this proposal.

[usedname]

interesting direct-to-DAO marketing approach… I hope we don’t see this forum turn into a marketplace