Unstoppable Domains Scraps ICANN Plans Amid High Compliance Costs

Unstoppable Domains has abandoned plans to seek ICANN recognition for several of its original web3 domain extensions, citing high compliance and application costs that exceeded expected sales. The decision comes six months after the company committed to pursuing ICANN applications for extensions including .crypto.wallet.NFT.Bitcoin, and .DAO.

According to Matthew Gould, founder of Unstoppable Domains, the cost of taking web3 domains through the ICANN process was higher than what they believed would be recovered in sales. He stated that refunding buyers affected by the company's ICANN plans made more business sense than going through with the applications.

Existing web3 domains will remain as onchain assets for crypto transactions, but Unstoppable Domains will no longer pursue ICANN recognition for its original extensions. The company is still working on ICANN applications for partners, including Telegram's .gram top-level domain application.