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.spa registry relocates to .xyz
Kevin Murphy,
November 16, 2020, 10:53:21 (UTC),
Domain Registries
Newly installed .spa registry Asia Spa and Wellness Promotion Council has started using a .xyz domain for its official registry web site.
The organization last week had its IANA records updated to change its “URL for registration services” from aswpc.org to dotspa.xyz.
It currently resolves to a placeholder “Coming Soon” page.
Choosing a TLD other than its own, which entered the DNS root in September, is pretty unusual.
Most new gTLD registries activate nic.example pretty quickly after delegation, even if they ultimately use a domain such as get.example or register.example for their primary marketing sites.
Activating nic.example is actually an obligation under ICANN contracts. ASWPC has registered that domain, but only whois.nic.spa currently resolves.
The dotspa.xyz domain was registered about a year ago, about a month after ASWPC’s former business partner, DotAsia, washed its hands of its stake in the TLD.
Both the .com and .org versions have been registered for well over a decade, so perhaps .xyz was picked as the default third-choice generic.
But that still doesn’t explain why a registry would select a domain outside its own TLD for its primary site.
That is because the SPA domain is under litigation. DotAsia had no right to give away it’s 50% equity in SPA, as that equity was controlled by DotPH. The litigation papers are here: http://domainincite.com/docs/SPA-Writ-of-Summons-(20201019).pdf