3,197
edits
Changes
no edit summary
* [[John Smrekar II]], VP Partner Operations
* [[John Smrekar II]], VP Partner Operations
* [[Joanna Stevens]], JLS Consulting
* [[Joanna Stevens]], JLS Consulting
==April 2021 - Combined TLD and Etherium Name Service Token Auctions==
Uniregistry announced its intention to auction its new gTLD portfolio in January 2021<ref>[https://goldsteinreport.com/uniregistry-offload-23-new-gtlds-auction/ Goldstein Report - Uniregistry to Offload 23 New gTLDs via Auction on 28 April], January 29, 2021</ref> UNR subsequently announced that it intended to also transfer [[Etherium Name Service]] (ENS) non-fungible tokens (NFTs) associated with each gTLD to the successful bidders for each TLD.<ref name="nftpr">[https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nfts-of-25-unr-top-level-domains-minted-on-the-ethereum-name-service-301259715.html PR Newswire - NFTs of 25 UNR Top Level Domains Minted on the Etherium Name Service], March 31, 2021</ref> The object of creating ENS tokens was to create ENS "domains" for cryptocurrency transactions and human-readable wallet IDs:
<blockquote>The auction winners of these rare internet assets not only collect subscription revenue by selling their domain names through ICANN-accredited registrars, but could also sell domains on ENS directly to Ethereum owners.
"UNR is opening the scarce asset class of Top Level Domains to the public, which brings existing cash flow and numerous new monetization models to future owners, including control of the NFTs on the blockchain," said Shayan Rostam, Chief Growth Officer of UNR. "We are on the cutting edge; it's unlikely that these assets will ever take part in an event of this magnitude again."<ref name="nftpr" /></blockquote>
The auction, scheduled for April 28, resulted in the sale of 22 of the 23 TLDs originally advertised. For unclear reasons, [[.hiphop]] was not sold via auction. "Web3" and cryptocurrency adherents saw the auction as "another interesting use case for NFTs that...show just one way that people are continuing to expand their use cases."<ref>[https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2021/04/16/ens-is-minting-nfts-of-23-top-level-domains-heres-what-that-means/ CoinDesk.com - ENS is Minting NFTs of 23 Top Level Domains - Here's what that Means], April 16, 2021</ref> However, the bundling of the NFTs with the TLDs created concerns at ICANN. In the wake of the auction, as assignment requests were submitted to ICANN by either UNR or the winning bidders, ICANN org submitted questions to UNR regarding the interrelationship between the ENS NFTs and the TLDs. ICANN's investigation of these issues is ongoing as of December 2021.<ref name="determination">[https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/reconsideration-21-3-dot-hip-hop-bamc-recommendation-request-16dec21-en.pdf Exhibit A, ICANN Board Accountability Mechanisms Committee Determination re: Urgent Consideration of Reconsideration Request 21-3], December 16, 2021</ref> Industry news outlets noted that the bundling of the NFTs may have caused incurable problems for all of the assignment requests.<ref>[https://domainnamewire.com/2021/12/21/nfts-trip-up-uniregistrys-top-level-domain-auctions/ Domain Name Wire - NFTs Trip up Uniregistry's Top Level Domain Auctions], December 21, 2021</ref>
===ENS Reliance on/connection to DNS===
The Etherium Name Service is compatible with the [[DNS]], and if a domain owner wants to utilize their web address as an Etherium wallet address, they must enable DNSSEC protocols on the domain, add an "_ens" record to the DNS records of the domain through their registrar, and complete additional steps to establish the connection between a specific wallet and the associated human-readable name.<ref name"dnstoens">[https://medium.com/the-ethereum-name-service/step-by-step-guide-to-importing-a-dns-domain-name-to-ens-d2d15feb03e8 Medium.com - Step-by-Step Guide to importing a DNS domain name to ENS], August 26, 2021</ref> It is possible that this technical interoperation is the source of ICANN's concern regarding the bundling of an ENS NFT with a TLD. However, this cross-compatability exists in the status quo now, so it is unclear how bundling the right to act as an "ENS registry" for a specific domain is independently problematic.
==References==
==References==