BELLEVUE, WA. - Domain name registrar and registry services provider Identity Digital officially took over the management and marketing last week of the internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .AI for the Government of Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean whose ccTLD has gained considerable popularity in recent years with members of the artificial intelligence community. For years the small island country has been reaping a profit from the rising … [Read more...]
Senator Elizabeth Warren Calls for Antitrust Investigation into Domain Registrar Verisign
WASHINGON, D.C. - Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is claiming that internet domain registrar Verisign is a “monopoly” and is subsequently demanding that an antitrust investigation be carried out against the company. Working in conjunction with Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Warren sent a letter last week to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) that accuses the top-level domain (TLD) market of being tightly controlled by Verisign, whom she claims … [Read more...]
Reddit Community, Unstoppable Domains Partner to Launch .MOON Blockchain Domain
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - The 8.8 million users of Reddit’s r/cryptocurrency community have partnered up with internet registrar Unstoppable Domains to launch the first-ever Reddit community-based blockchain Top-Level Domain (TLD), .MOON. Built on the Polygon blockchain, .MOON will enable the crypto community members of Reddit to interact with more than 865 blockchain applications and wallets, in addition to allowing them to establish digital identities with which to do … [Read more...]
These Countries Are Beniffting Big from Their Distinctive Top-Level Domains
PALM BEACH, FL -The rise in prominence of artificial intelligence in the tech industry has proven to be a significant boon for Anguilla, which has seen a huge spike – and along with it, a lucrative revenue stream – from companies and organizations seeking to register the small Caribbean island nation’s top-level domain (TLD) of “.AI.” This development has been making headlines in the press, but Anguilla isn’t the only country with a TLD that is desired across the globe for … [Read more...]
GoDaddy or Namecheap: Which Registrar Should You Use to Buy an .AI Domain?
PHOENIX, AZ - With the boom of the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution the talk of the technology industry – both for good and bad – the demand for the .AI domain has skyrocketed. Originally an obscure country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the small Caribbean island of Anguilla, it has spiked in popularity with tech companies looking to cash in on the AI craze, making it one of the most popular extensions out there currently. That being said, the US-based GoDaddy … [Read more...]
Lawsuit Alleges GoDaddy “Stole” Domain Name Two Months After Purchase
TEMPE, AZ - A lawsuit filed by Sweden-based Crisby Studio AB alleges that the biggest Internet registrar in the world, GoDaddy, “wrongfully took possession of” a domain name, two months after it had been successfully purchased by the company earlier this year. Crisby Studio AB, a Swedish limited liability company, and Niklas Thorin, a Swedish resident Plaintiffs, v. GoDaddy, Inc., a Delaware corporation, GoDaddy.com, LLC, a Delaware corporation, … [Read more...]
Unstoppable Domains and Blockchain.com Partner to Launch “.blockchain” Domain
LAS VEGAS, NV - Unstoppable Domains, a crypto domain name and wallet address registrar, has announced they have teamed up with Blockchain.com in order to launch a “.blockchain” domain name system (DNS)-enabled Web3 domain, with plans to go on to commercialize the joint venture for profit. A web3 domain name is a a decentralized, blockchain-based domain name that's registered on a crypto network, like Ethereum or Algorand. Web3 domains are also known as … [Read more...]
Over 20,000 Short Premium Domains to Be Released at NamesCon Global 2024
BELLEVUE, WA - Domain name registrar and registry services provider Identity Digital has announced they will be releasing – for first-time availability – over 20,000 short premium domains at NamesCon Global 2024, including hundreds of .vote domains just in time for election season, as well as more than 1,000 one and two-character .info domains. Identity Digital noted that the launch of the Early Access Phase (EAP) for these premium domains is slated to take place … [Read more...]
Following Early-Access, Five New gTLDs Now Available for General Availability
WEST PALM BEACH, FL - Late last week, five new top-level domains (TLDs) were made available for early access registration, spanning a variety of different uses and covering topics that are designed to appeal to very specific audiences. The five TLDs in question are .diy, .food, .living, .lifestyle, and .vana, all of which were acquired late last year by Internet Naming Co. from Lifestyle Domain Holdings, which was the previous owner but had not yet launched the … [Read more...]
New Service to Assist with WHOIS Lookups Launched by ICANN for Authorized Users
LOS ANGELES, CA - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) – the nonprofit organization that oversees the domain industry – has launched a new centralized online service to assist researchers, law enforcement, and others to request personal data from all public domain registration records. This new service comes after ICANN had instructed all registrars in May 2018 to redact personal data – such as a customer’s name, address, phone number … [Read more...]
Google Ceases Selling New Domains as Transition to Squarespace Continues
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Back in July of this year, Google abruptly announced that it would be ending its Google Domains service after nearly 10 years and would be selling the business and all of its assets to Squarespace, a New York-based website building and hosting company. This month, as the transition from one company to another continues, the soon-to-be-shuttered Google Domains quietly revealed that it has ceased the sale of any new domains going … [Read more...]
Seven Years Later, New gTLD “.Cars” Still Driving Long & Winding Road to Nowhere
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – I recently wanted to see what was going on with the “. Cars” domain name, so I tried visiting a site I thought would probably be one of the best names; “used.cars”…. Not much is going on there; the page just fails to load. Same thing with “used.car”, “new.car” and “new.cars”. A “.cars” domain name costs $2,499 per year to register, renew, or transfer at Dynadot, one of the largest domain name registrars in the world. Same thing with ".Car" which was … [Read more...]
Website Company Squarespace Enters Agreement to Purchase Google Domains
NEW YORK, NY - New York City-based website building and hosting company Squarespace announced this week that they will be entering into an agreement to purchase Google Domains – a domain name registrar operated by Google that offers domain registration, DNS hosting, dynamic DNS, domain forwarding, and email forwarding – in a deal that includes all of the company's assets, which includes approximately 10 million domains that are owned by millions of … [Read more...]
GoDaddy Makes Two Recent Acquisitions of Leading Domainer Tools and Services
TEMPE, AZ - GoDaddy, the well-known domain registrar and hosting company, announced last week they will be acquiring competing domain sales company Dan.com, a move that GoDaddy stated would enable them to “reach more potential buyers.” Previously launching under the name Undeveloped, Dan.com made a name for themselves by attempting to undercut the competition by reducing their initial industry-standard commission fee of 15 percent to just 9 percent, which led to several … [Read more...]
Domain Name Registrar Epik Feels It’s Being Deplatformed After PayPal Cuts Ties
SAMMAMISH, WA - After online payments system PayPal stopped offering services to Epik, the domain name registrar company says it’s being targeted on political grounds and not what Paypal has said to be a financial basis. A number of open letters have been posted by Epik responding to the issue, and the company cited that 'service risk' was the reason PayPal gave over the withdrawal of Epik’s support. While PayPal says it regrets the decision and the inconvenience caused … [Read more...]