.crypto domains launching on 12/11

[Unstoppable Domains]

Hi NamePros,

We’re announcing the launch of the .crypto domain extension on 12/11. 50,000 domains have already been registered. Go to https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=namepros to find available domains.

You’ve probably all heard about cryptocurrency, but may not be aware that new domain extensions are being launched on blockchains. These domains are not part of the ICANN system. They are stored by the owner, with their private key, not by a registrar like Godaddy. No one can transfer a domain or update it other than the owner. If you store website content on decentralized storage instead of Amazon Web Services, then no one can take down your website other than you.

A blockchain domain + Decentralized storage = An uncensorable website

This is the beginning of an entirely new internet built to protect free speech around the world.


Blockchain domain features

• No Renewals - Pay once and it’s yours ... forever
  
  
• No Custodian - Domains are stored by the owner. No third party can move or update them
  
  
• Payments - The domain can be used as a payment address for cryptocurrencies. Send Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or any other currency all to the same domain
  
  
• Uncensorable Websites - Attach domains to content on decentralized storage and create an uncensorable website
  
  
• Transfers - Escrow agents aren’t needed. Transfer to anyone in the world in under 1 minute with no risk of being defrauded

We’ll be moderating this thread and we’d love to hear your thoughts!


Brad Kam, Co-founder

This was a promoted post.​

 

[Keith]

Hi Brad,

thanks for posting this information, and welcome to Namepros!

2 questions which immediatelly comes to mind:

1) How will you handle the situation when another company applies for .CRYPTO extension in standard ICANN process, and will get rights to operate the extension?

In another words, if person A now purchase your blockchain domain name, let's say example.crypto, and person B will purchase a standard ICANN domain name example.crypto (in case .CRYPTO is granted in standard ICANN process to some domain registry in future), which website will be resolved in standard brownser ? This is hypothetical situation, but given the popularity of keyword "crypto", there are chances someone might apply for .crypto.

2) How will you handle the situation when illegal content will be stored at webpages on blokchain .crypto domain name, and valid court order from major jurisdiction (USA, EU) will be issued to remove the content/website?

Many thanks for clarification

Good questions!

I can also see people purposely going for common typos. Since you’re relying on .crypto to act as your wallet address, payments to Keith.crypto could easily go to Kieth.crypto.

I’d stay far away from this for sure!

 

[bmugford]

We don't think they will want to collide with existing and popular domain extensions. And the applications that support our TLDs will also be against such a move.

It has happened before -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New.net

At one point it offered .travel, .kids, and .xxx but those were removed when they conflicted with domains proposed to ICANN in the first round of creation of new domain names in the primary root since the early history of the DNS

ICANN does not recognize or care about alternate roots.

 

[Unstoppable Domains]

This is how I personally understand it at the moment as well - but maybe I do miss some information, so I am curious what @Unstoppable Domains will share about such concerns

The funds are always gone. That's the nature of crypto payments in general. The difference here is that someone gets to verify their address multiple times, adds it to their domain, and then they're done. Anyone can just type in their domain to find the address. It's much easier to spot check a domain like brad.crypto than a 40 char address to ensure errors. Also, if you spell the name wrong, you're likely to just get an error - no address found. With a regular crypto payment, the funds would just send. Lastly, you can add additional info to your domain to prove it's you like your Twitter or Telegram account, etc.

 

[bmugford]

Yes these are alternate routes. They are not part of ICANN. The point is to have censorship resistant websites so anyone in the world can publish on the internet and authoritarian governments can't censor them through domain seizures and website take downs.

That is fine. What is to stop endless other alternate root providers from launching their own .crypto then?
Nothing really.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

The difference here is that large applications are natively supporting blockchain domains. And they will continue to do so for at least 3 years before ICANN does anything. And these applications could still ignore ICANN after that point. Meanwhile, millions of people in the crypto community will be actively building the decentralized web. And does anyone really think that the centralized version of .crypto is going to compete? Would it even make sense to have such a thing? Who would want that?

ICANN is highly unlikely to care or be compelled by that.

The only real solution to that issue is for you to apply for the extension, and likely outbid many other parties for it. Outside that it is likely going to be delegated to another party that is using the official root where you can just type it into any normal browser and it works.

Brad

 

[Unstoppable Domains]

Fair enough. Although using the term "alternate" or "alternative" is giving end users, who is needed for adoption, more of a secondary feel.

My point is to market on the great attributes instead of being a secondary option.

Best of luck!

We call it the decentralized web. And it's completely different than the traditional internet. But when talking to the domain community, we were ensuring that everyone understands it's not part of ICANN. Domain seizures and website take downs become impossible. This is radically different than the current system.

 

[Unstoppable Domains]

I'm happy not to promote any product. I'm just trying to identify where we should have the discussion around blockchain domains.

 

[Unstoppable Domains]

Hi Brad,

thanks for posting this information, and welcome to Namepros!

2 questions which immediatelly comes to mind:

1) How will you handle the situation when another company applies for .CRYPTO extension in standard ICANN process, and will get rights to operate the extension?

In another words, if person A now purchase your blockchain domain name, let's say example.crypto, and person B will purchase a standard ICANN domain name example.crypto (in case .CRYPTO is granted in standard ICANN process to some domain registry in future), which website will be resolved in standard brownser ? This is hypothetical situation, but given the popularity of keyword "crypto", there are chances someone might apply for .crypto.

2) How will you handle the situation when illegal content will be stored at webpages on blokchain .crypto domain name, and valid court order from major jurisdiction (USA, EU) will be issued to remove the content/website?

Many thanks for clarification

1) That process is at least 3 years away. By that time, we will already have many major applications resolving .crypto domains. We think it will be difficult for the ICANN tld to replace this actual usage. Also, what would be the point of such a .crypto ICANN tld? Who would use it if it actively competes with the entire crypto community and doesn't work for payments or censorship resistant websites (the whole point of blockchain domains)
2) A court order or injunction will I'm sure be issued at some point. However, we do not control the domain names or web content. The user does with their private key. The courts will need to physically get control of that key to take down the website. There's nothing we can do.

We of course don't condone illegal activity and will work to discourage it. Objectionable content will likely not be resolved by browsers and search engines so it will be much harder to find.

Thanks for the great questions and discussion!

 

[Unstoppable Domains]

So, I have a question... wouldn't ICANN remove applications due to trademark violations? Or not really? Because Unstoppable Domains has the trademark on .crypto. So, couldn't this help to prevent another entity from claiming .crypto domain extension?
Link: http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4802:911225.2.12

(I'm not a trademark lawyer and don't have a clue.)

I'm not an attorney either, but yes, legitimate use is a big part of TM claims. We can already demonstrate that use and will continue to demonstrate it for the next 3 years. I think we'll be in a pretty strong position. It definitely makes it difficult for ICANN to quickly and easily sell it to someone else. And while the ICANN process drags on, people will be using their .crypto domains.

 

[bmugford]

However, they definitely have a business use and a working product. Therefore, UD may be able to take ICANN to court for a trademark violation, IMO, if ICANN issues a .crypto domain to another entity.

This has already happened with .MUSIC for instance.

An official Legal Rights Objection was filed by DotMusic Limited against .music applicants since DotMusic Limited had registered trademarks for ".music" and "dotmusic" in nearly 30 countries.

They lost the objection.

http://domainincite.com/14332-roussos-loses-last-music-lro

Brad

 

[CJ6]

Right. There is a difference between a community application and legal rights objection.
The discussion was talking about legal rights.

Brad

And its a great discussion... hopefully not needed.

 

[Unstoppable Domains]

Selling to a good actor — bad content will be 99.99% blocked

Selling to a bad actor — your content cannot be censored, 100% guarantee

Either you are a good salesperson, or you think the domaining industry is full of shady businesspeople with no moral principles

We think that the world is full of censorship. And that there's growing authoritarianism around the world. And that the centralization of data is used by these authoritarians to further censor and control their citizens. And that companies like Facebook have too much data and that data and control needs to be given to individuals. And that technology like blockchain domains can help free people from censorship. And that this needs to happen as soon as possible. Anyway, agree to disagree though

 

[Unstoppable Domains]

Why are we debating potential pitfalls of development on blockchain domains when the vast majority of domains held by investors are merely held for resale? Who here is serious about developing a website using special browser extensions few people will use? If you have no cryptocurrency holdings, do not register dozens of .crypto domains thinking you can resell them for 100x cost. How often do domain flips for 100x cost happen with alternative extensions? While there may be a few unique cases where a website would want to launch on a decentralized platform, the primary use case of these domains is as a wallet address shortener. I do not really see much potential of an aftermarket for .crypto domains. Think about it - what is the typical portfolio turn in most extensions even where the keyword could be used to launch a business? Most businesses just opt for inferior domain choices rather than pay for an aftermarket domain. However, if you have multiple wallets, these address shorteners can be very useful for facilitating transfers (manually typing in a long wallet address when it is your money being transferred can be stressful).

I agree that the payment use case is important. It's a big problem in the crypto community. But I think that the decentralized web is much bigger. And I do think people will be using them for websites soon. We haven't even launched an easy web builder yet, and we already have 200+ websites created by enthusiasts with hundreds more launching soon. People across the crypto world as well as folks that worry about censorship internationally, seem quite excited about this type of internet. They don't mind using browser extensions, which they already use as crypto wallets anyway. Beyond that, we'll start to see browser support soon I think.
In regards to speculation, I'm not sure how that will play out. I think that just like a .com domain early on, the best way to make it valuable is to get traffic coming to it.

 

[oskaaay]

Hi NamePros,

We’re announcing the launch of the .crypto domain extension on 12/11. 50,000 domains have already been registered. Go to https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=namepros to find available domains.

You’ve probably all heard about cryptocurrency, but may not be aware that new domain extensions are being launched on blockchains. These domains are not part of the ICANN system. They are stored by the owner, with their private key, not by a registrar like Godaddy. No one can transfer a domain or update it other than the owner. If you store website content on decentralized storage instead of Amazon Web Services, then no one can take down your website other than you.

A blockchain domain + Decentralized storage = An uncensorable website

This is the beginning of an entirely new internet built to protect free speech around the world.


Blockchain domain features

• No Renewals - Pay once and it’s yours ... forever
  
  
• No Custodian - Domains are stored by the owner. No third party can move or update them
  
  
• Payments - The domain can be used as a payment address for cryptocurrencies. Send Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or any other currency all to the same domain
  
  
• Uncensorable Websites - Attach domains to content on decentralized storage and create an uncensorable website
  
  
• Transfers - Escrow agents aren’t needed. Transfer to anyone in the world in under 1 minute with no risk of being defrauded

We’ll be moderating this thread and we’d love to hear your thoughts!


Brad Kam, Co-founder

This is a promoted post.​

Can't just help but check out the link. Am a good supporter and investor into Blockchain and crypto projects. This is unique and indeed unstoppable. Decentralization is the way to go!!!

 

[Unstoppable Domains]

There is always a need for alternatives to (the main) options, look at what youtube can do at will.
New ideas create new markets and drive innovation.
Look forward to watching and seeing how this progresses - & need to better understand before "investing".

But one thing that always has to be kept in mind, there really isn't any "censorship protected" anything, anywhere, anytime. Sometimes overthink the reality - if you have a protected site that a Gov doesnt want you to see - they will shut down the internet - oh mobile - they will shut off the power. So, although we fell there are "gov safe zones" and untouchable zones... Are there really?

With that said - innovative alternative (primary and/or backup) services are vital (IMO) to keep the internet a bit more free. Thanks for the work you guys are sharing with us here and being responsive to the questions.

A better term for the security of a blockchain system vs. a traditional system is self custody. You control the domain and do not need to depend on the future actions or even the viability of the registry. Your domains will continue to work even if the registry ceases to exist. And because domains have no renewal fee, you don't need to worry about price hikes from the registry either.

A blockchain domain would have prevented this from happening in Catalonia: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/09/cat-domain-casualty-catalonian-independence-crackdown

You're right that a lot of censorship happens at the ISP level - or even the electric grid level. But if you remove the ability to do seizures of domains and take downs of websites, then those moves are temporary and only impact specific people for a certain period of time. Eventually, those people will get back online and the website will still be on the decentralized web for them to see once they're back.

 

[CJ6]

Any .zil domain we can visit?

If you have your own domain system, then you also need your own browser.

Go to that site and click on the north arrow for any of those .zil domains. Those are websites published into IPFS and viewed through Pinata.cloud. I have clicked on some, but not all. I did not come across anything that I shouldn't see. Currently, they are primarily simple Hello World websites. Personally, I will be playing around with website building...just to see what its like and learn the possibilities. I won't be putting anything up that cannot be put on any other extension.
Next year should be an interesting year with UD where they will be developing tools for users.

Oh, forgot to mention... yes, you are correct. Browser support will need to come in the future. Currently, extensions can be added to browsers to view websites. But the browser will need to work with UD to get integrated. I think this would be the most logical step...and be huge.

 

[Not a robot]

@Keith, they don’t care about trademark. I asked what happens when a site host child porn or sell human organ, and all I get is “we can’t do anything” and first-amendment bullshit. If whitewashing the dark Web is your thing, then they will be happy to take your $$$

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

Yes!....and .eth has renewals, .crypto is owned after purchase. No renewals. Truly owning real estate on the decentralized web.

How the hell did I miss that?

 

[Unstoppable Domains]

Most of the top 10K are scheduled to go to auction. We are designing an on chain auction, which is difficult and the reason why we aren't ready to commit to dates.

We will be opening up more tiers soon and posting about it. It's the next thing after the .crypto launch is complete. We'll be sure to drop that post onto this thread as well.

https://unstoppabledomains.com/t/what-is-the-initial-pricing-for-crypto/283

 

[HotKey]

Since it's Sunday, it may be a bit before they reply. I have been following them on Telegram and suggest you do the same. It's the best and fastest place to get updates.

The general belief is that this week will be open to the public where you can claim the domains.

I was in the early group and it was easy to claim after I had linked my wallet. (You can link the wallet now.)

Thx CJ6, I get it. There's tons of references to using Telegram, but my point was that none of this is relayed at the point of purchase on the end user regarding usage after purchase. Plus it's all done through the Unstoppable site, and I'm playing the Regular Joe here, seeing as Unstoppable has opened this up to the point of even creating ads here on NP and dedicating a thread to the .crypto launch.

By no means am I incapable of delving into exterior sites and research outside of Unstoppable, but my point was that this should be made CLEAR AS DIRT before the fact.

All good, I have patience, but its the principle of the thing. Its become too common practice among startup and new offerings even among established business to work out the bugs and proper tech implentation after the fact. Bad practice, and starting off on the wrong footing.

If you don't know what you're doing, just say it!. Simple as, "We're offering registrations as of xx date, however, we can't guarantee immediate usage due to ongoing efforts to perfect the platform." or whatever.

Thx again CJ, read earlier it was successful for you, (I'm sure you went deeper into it however for it to happen, ie followed on Telegram) so I know it will work eventually. Exciting stuff indeed. But @Unstoppable Domains and any other new startup, just say it from the get-go that there is a staggered or testing phase.

 

[dande]

Like every other newTLDs all the important and semi important names has been carefully protected, leaving only junks for gullible customers. That's fine.

I'm looking forward to hosting my site with the blockchain network with blockchain domain name. That sounds really promising.

 

[Not a robot]

Grit Brokerage is already brokering one-word .crypto (like bonus.crypto) for $10k each.

 

[Unstoppable Domains]

So tell me how “store” is protected? That’s about as generic as it gets.

Shouldn't be. That's a top tier domain. Will be removed.

 

[RichieDomains]

I just threw my hat in the ring, I bought 'PayMyWallet.Crypto' and claimed it on Trustwallet and it says pending claim so must be still transferring on the blockchain, can't spend too much time on this...will check back later

 

[Internet.Domains]

Pretty cool, its arrived in my TrustWallet under 'collectibles'... I tried connecting my bitcoin address to it but haven't tried sending funds to it yet...a lot to learn!

Yea! I got some claimed as well. The coolest part is the custodianship. It's like owning your own registrar and registry.