Latest news of the domain name industry

Recent Posts

NameVault terminated by ICANN

Kevin Murphy, May 22, 2015, Domain Registrars

NameVault, a registrar that once had over 75,000 domains under management, has been terminated by ICANN over multiple alleged contract breaches.
ICANN told (pdf) the Canadian company this week that its right to sell gTLD domain names will come to an end June 17.
The breaches primarily relate to its failure to provide records relating to the domain stronglikebull.com and its failure to provide ICANN with a working phone number.
NameVault belonged to domain investor Adam Matuzich, but I hear he may have sold it off to an Indian outfit several months ago (that may have been a surprise to ICANN too).
Back in 2011, it had over 75,000 names on its books. Today, it has fewer than 1,000.
The decline seems to be largely due to the departure of fellow domain investor Mike Berkens, who started taking his portfolio to Hexonet a few years ago.
ICANN will now ask other registrars if they want to take over NameVault’s domains.
It’s the fourth registrar to lose its accreditation this year.

Three registrars suspended by ICANN

Kevin Murphy, April 7, 2015, Domain Registrars

ICANN has enforced the 2013 Registrar Accreditation Agreement against three more registrars, suspending their ability to sell gTLD domain names.
Canadian registrar Namevault, along with Signdomains and Times Internet of India, cannot sell domains or accept inbound transfers from April 21 to July 20, according to ICANN compliance notices.
Namevault’s suspension came after it got its third compliance strike in a year, this time relating to its failure to provide records about domain stronglikebull.com, which was at Namevault from 2008 but is now at Go Daddy.
Times Internet has failed to implement a Whois service, despite being first warned about its failings last September, ICANN says.
Signdomains was originally issued a breach notice due to its failure to pay over $3,000 in accreditation fees. It also does not display pricing information on its web site, according to ICANN. Neither breach has been rectified.
The three registrars have not many more than 10,000 names under management between them, according to latest registry reports.
They’re the first three registrars to have their RAAs suspended in 2015. Three other registrars have been terminated since the beginning of the year.