It seems that 2019 set a new record – and we’re not talking about Joey Chestnut eating 71 hotdogs in 10 minutes at the annual Coney Island contest.
In 2019 there were 3216 UDRPs filed.
With the huge, global, move to online business, you can expect more of the same in 2020. There might be another 3216 Novi UDRPs alone!
But, is ICANN‘s domain authority about to be diminished?
Two companies looking to separate ICANN from domain control are Ethereum Name Service, and Unstoppable Domains.
Both companies are working to decentralize the Internet’s domain-name infrastructure. Currently, both services operate on 3rd party browsers and utilize private keys to control the domains much like cryptocurrencies.
A third domain project is Handshake, supported by the HNS cryptocurrency.
“With Handshake you own it directly with a private key, the way you own bitcoin with a private key,” said HNS user Matthew Zipkin, who built the reference site easyhandshake.com.
“As long as you keep that key secure, no one is taking that name from you. … There’s a lot of money and corruption and centralization. The namespace is dominated by ICANN.”
It was only a matter of time before blockchain technology moved into the domain market, and it looks like it’s here to stay. However, these services claim they are not trying to splinter traditional DNS, but to move away from ICANN.
Whether or not Gen Z domainers will adopt the new domains remains to be seen.
Story kudos: Dale G.
