Alt-root blockchain domains discussed at recent ICANN meeting

[Undiscussed Horrific Abuse, One Victim of Many]

ICANN is the standards body responsible for the shape of the mainstream
domain name system. A recent presentation depicted the Handshake blockchain
as potentially outcompeting their infrastructure. It also mentioned
Fingertip for resolving hosts, and Brave and Opera as supporting browsers.
I believe the branch of ICANN involved is open to any who join.

I don't recognise or have reason to trust the following media outlet; it's
just the first news hit I got from a websearch.

https://domainnamewire.com/2022/03/17/alt-root-blockchain-domains-icann/

There was a bit of discussion about blockchain-based domains at ICANN 73
this month.

The concept of an alt root is as old as ICANN, and previous iterations of
these have failed to obtain the popularity necessary to compete with the
“real” DNS. Is the current wave of alt-roots, such as Handshake, the ENS,
and Unstoppable Domains, changing the narrative? Is it *really* different
this time?

ICANN and the broader Internet Governance community share a history of
opposition to alt roots (including ICANN’s most recent blog post telling
alt-root domain registrants buyer beware
<https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/buyer-beware-not-all-names-are-created-equal-24-11-2021-en>).
And ICANN has delayed Uni’s TLD sales
<https://domainnamewire.com/2021/12/21/nfts-trip-up-uniregistrys-top-level-domain-auctions/>
due
to bundling them with alt-root domains.

During ICANN 73, members of NARALO (North American Regional At-Large
Organization) held a session
<https://73.schedule.icann.org/meetings/LNpr7rJ27eueDkZ4x> on NFTs,
blockchain, and alt roots. Jeff Neuman of JJN Solutions and Tom Barrett of
Encirca gave an overview of cryptocurrency and NFTs and then dove into
blockchain alt-root domains. They considered if ICANN should give any
thought to potential name collisions with alt roots for the next round of
TLDs.

The history of alternative roots
<https://icannwiki.org/Alternative_Roots> largely
involves efforts to replace the DNS, while Web3 technologies can
conceivably coexist alongside. But what happens when companies inevitably
apply for .crypto in the next new TLD round? Unstoppable Domains already
runs a .crypto and has been trying to get some protection
<https://domainnamewire.com/2021/10/07/uspto-continues-to-refuse-trademarks-for-alt-root-and-prospective-top-level-domains/>
against
new ICANN TLDs that match its domains.

The unanswered question is if ICANN should care. If Unstoppable’s .crypto
has legs by then, the name collisions could be problematic. But giving
Unstoppable Domains any preference for this and its other domains would
encourage companies to create alt roots today to frontrun the next round of
new TLDs, much like applicants (unsuccessfully) tried to do with trademark
frontrunning
<https://domainnamewire.com/2010/04/12/new-top-level-domain-trademark-frontrunning-battle-heats-up/>
in
the last round.

The discussion continued in the public forum
<https://73.schedule.icann.org/meetings/ERWRCp2CBbZ3pJ5i3>, with a
particular interest in what ICANN could do about the rise of Web3: avoiding
name collisions in the next round, encouraging possible collaboration
between ICANN and alt roots, or at least considering why people are turning
to alt roots to explore whether there’s something that may apply to ICANN
or the DNS.
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