📛 Tokenizing Domains

Not your keys, not your domains. In this issue, we discuss bringing ICANN domain names on-chain

Author

Richard Patey
November 08, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Together with

Hey there 👋,

In this week’s issue:

  • DAI picks (new section)

  • Digital asset custody

  • Bringing web2 and web3 domains together

Cheers!

DAI PICKS

  • Investment manager marks down their stake in OpenSea by 90%, suggesting a $1.4 billion valuation for the NFT marketplace. (Link)

  • Amazon has removed the restriction for needing a bot to register .bot domains, they cost $70 a name. (Link)

  • Binance lists Bitcoin BRC-20 token $ORDI, sees 80% pump upon listing with huge volume. (Link)

  • Stablecoin issuer Circle may be considering an IPO next year. (Link)

  • Crypto Tax software Accointing acquired by Blockpit. (Link)

Custody For All Your Digital Assets

atato Custody is a custody solution and mpc wallet for web3 projects, VCs, institutions, and high-net-worth individuals. 

atato enables SMEs to securely manage their treasury on any EVM and non-EVM chain through an intuitive dashboard on mobile and web. 

The company supports every token in just one click and allows businesses to interact with any dApp through WalletConnect. 

atato is licensed and compliant in Asia and Europe and is the only fixed-price digital asset custody solution with no AUM fees.

Bridging Web2 & Web3 Domains

Pic from d3.inc

D3, by domain industry experts Fred Hsu and Shayan Rostam, is creating the next generation of web3 domains on top of the traditional DNS root zone.

This is a separate mission to Handshake (which I wrote about here and most recently here) which has a dedicated blockchain to create an alternative decentralized root zone.

D3, who raised a $5M seed round, intends to apply for and acquire new top level domains (TLDs) during ICANN’s upcoming application window, to sell names that are web3 enabled. This means they can be used as wallets and identities, as well as for websites and email.

It also plans to launch an on-chain marketplace where it will tokenize more than 1,000 TLDs, including .com. And you can buy these names with either crypto or fiat.

A major benefit of tokenization is that it unlocks liquidity in the form of leasing for domain investors, as Fred Hsu, D3’s CEO states:

❝

Domain auctions are like traditional auctions, with paddles and excitement. But it's still an analog process for digital assets... You could lease domain names, but it's not a smooth process. There are issues with ownership and control.

Fred Hsu in an article on Coindesk

Another startup in this space 3DNS, by Paul Gauvreau, is bringing a registrar on-chain, and is decentralizing the existing domain name system (DNS). Users are able to own and manage their web domains, without having to trust a centralized registrar.

Users can import any ICANN domain, where they receive an NFT, which is required to make any changes to DNS.

The benefit of tokenizing an ICANN domain in this way is that you can:

  • Reduce DNS hijacking risk (which happened to Curve Finance)

  • Benefit from more liquidity by tapping into the web3 market, and lower secondary domain fees

  • Link with the ENS registry to use as a wallet address using Metamask

Tokenizing your domain with 3DNS costs $36/year, which includes minting the NFT and managing the web domain.

Want to better understand web3 domains? You can get my Ultimate Guide to Web3 Domains for free by referring one person (details below).

CLASSIFIEDS

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Disclaimer: Nothing in this email is financial advice and I am not a professional investment adviser. I send weekly updates on digital asset news and what I'm doing personally - consider it informational and for entertainment purposes only. Thanks to atato for sponsoring this issue.

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