There is what is known as a "registrar of last resort" for domain names that have been rejected by other registrars. Before ICANN and in the ccTLD world, it used to be the registry that acted as the ROLR but that created arguments about the registries competing with their registrars. The growth in ICANN accredited retail registrars means that it may be possible for people who are worried about the risk of their domain name being deplatformed to move to other registrars in the event of Epik losing its accreditation.
For registrars looking at taking over Epik's registration business, the priority would be to break down the nature of the registrations into categories. The most obvious targets are the ones that consistently renew. These form Epik's core business in terms of generating repeating (and reliable) revenue.
Then there are largely speculative registrations that only last a single year and are not renewed. Many of them will be for sale either on Epik's own market place or on other sales sites. There will also be a set of domain names where price is the main concern for the registrants. These registrants are more likely to move their domain names regularly to get the best renewal prices. It may be that deplatformed domain names or those at the risk of deplatforming are a very small percentage of Epik's business.
After a registrar's initial growth phase, it will begin to make money from renewals. Epik is, in market terms, a mature registrar and it makes relatively consistent money from renewals. These are the domain names in which that other registrars would be most interested. The problem for any trade sale of Epik is its debt. Investors may also be concerned about getting their investments back and the breakup valuation of Epik will be a major concern for them.
Any buyer would need to separate the viable domain name business from the debt. The alternative, for a buyer, would be to wait and see if Epik loses its accreditation and if there is a bidding process for the domain names. Before that happens, there would be a rise in bulk transfer offers by other registrars specifically targeting Epik customers with portfolios.
ICANN prefers that registrars resolve problems. It has an escalation path when a registrar misbehaves and the ultimate sanction is that the registrar loses its accreditation. Unfortunately, for those stung with Masterbucks, ICANN may have no jurisdiction over these transactions unless it can be convinced that the Epik was in breach of its registrar agreement with ICANN. Any notices about breaches will appear here:
https://www.icann.org/compliance/notices
ICANN moves quite slowly when it comes to taking action against a registrar. Hoping for ICANN to take prompt action against a registrar is a bit like hoping to win the lottery. It could happen but it probably won't. ICANN Compliance will help with individual cases but it is necessary to file those complaints because ICANN is not going to go looking for them.
I think that Royce may be trying to save Epik as a going concern but without Monster's marketing, it is a very difficult task. A retail registrar needs a good mix of registrants and that would include Mom and Pop businesses, bluechip companies and domainers.
Epik's targeting of price sensitive registrants was a risky move because those domain names move to follow the latest discounts. It also made Epik vulnerable to any shifts in the market and 2022 was one of .COM's worst years for growth for some time.
Only a percentage of its registrations are up for renewal each month and Epik has to get them renewed if it is not to incur the anger of ICANN. It seems to be trying to lessen the immediate financial impact of having to pay for those renewals at once by adjusting the first grace period (0-45 days determined by the registrar). Registrants who have not set their domain names to auto-renew will take advantage of this.
Recovering Epik from its current situation would be difficult in a strong domain name market even for those who have experience in the business. For Epik, the worst thing will be if its non-renewal rate starts to rise in conjunction with domain names being transferred out to other registrars. It would have to rely more on new registrations.
Regards...jmcc
