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Blockchain naming firm gets ICANN accreditation
Kevin Murphy,
July 8, 2024, 16:33:29 (UTC),
Domain Registrars
A company heavily involved in promoting blockchain-based domain name alternatives has received its ICANN registrar accreditation, allowing it to sell real domains as well.
Switzerland-based Freename’s London subsidiary seems to have obtained the accreditation in the last week or so. Accreditation means it gets the right to sell gTLD domains from any registry that it can sign a contract with.
Freename currently sells names in thousands of “TLDs”, some of which look very similar to existing ICANN gTLDs albeit with the addition of emojis, and which of course only work with special client software installed.
ICANN does not accept gTLD applications including emojis, so there’s no risk of collisions at the technical level, even if the text portion of the Freename suffix matches a DNS TLD.
Fellow blockchain naming company Unstoppable Domains already sells real .com domains, but I believe that’s as a reseller rather than a full-fat ICANN registrar.
Last year, it emerged that ICANN had turned down an offer of sponsorship from Freename.
This article was updated July 15, 2024 with additional information about Freename’s use of emojis.
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