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Unstoppable D
2026-08-29 02:23:11

Unstoppable Domains Drops 14 ICANN TLD Bids, Including .crypto and .bitcoin

Unstoppable Domains has withdrawn 14 planned top-level domain applications tied to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, including .crypto, .bitcoin and .brave. The company said it scrapped nine direct applications and five partner-linked extensions. CEO Matthew Gould said the 2021 crypto and NFT boom inflated expectations around Web3 demand and described the market as small and niche. The move also reflects the economics of the process: ICANN charges $227,000 per new gTLD application, which would have pushed the base cost for nine filings above $2 million. The company also said ICANN integration would require more than 4 million existing Web3 names to be re-registered in the traditional DNS system and would require registrant information to be disclosed. Unstoppable is offering refunds for certain affected domain purchases, with applications due by Sept. 25, 2026 and processing expected within 28 days. Even so, the company is keeping five applications alive: .agi, .robot, .gram, .hub and .xmr.

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Unstoppable Domains Drops 14 ICANN TLD Bids, Including .crypto and .bitcoin
Unstoppable D
2026-08-26 18:33:13

Unstoppable Drops ICANN Bid for Web3 TLDs and Starts Refunding Buyers

Unstoppable Domains has decided not to file applications for its web3 top-level domains in ICANN’s 2026 expansion round, reversing a promise it had made to holders for years and triggering refunds for affected customers. Founder Matthew Gould said the economics no longer made sense: the cost of compliance, applications and potential bidding would be higher than what the company expected to recover through sales. The move affects the long-running pitch that extensions such as .crypto and .wallet could eventually resolve in ordinary browsers in the same way as .com. The decision comes even though Unstoppable had said on Feb. 17 that it planned to apply for strings including .ZIL, .Crypto, .Wallet, .NFT, .Bitcoin and .DAO. ICANN’s application window opened on April 30 and closed on Aug. 12, with more than 1,600 primary applications submitted, while evaluation fees were due by Aug. 19. Gould said customers were notified by email, but he did not publish a full list of affected extensions or detailed refund terms. Some domain holders are now pushing for broader refunds, arguing they kept the assets because Unstoppable had tied them to the ICANN process. Gould, for his part, said the web3 domains will continue to function as onchain assets for crypto transactions. The company is also staying active in the ICANN ecosystem as a service provider for other applicants, even as it pulls back from filing its own web3 strings.

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Unstoppable Drops ICANN Bid for Web3 TLDs and Starts Refunding Buyers
Unstoppable D
2026-08-26 18:46:21

Unstoppable Domains skips ICANN bid for Web3 TLDs, promises refunds

Unstoppable Domains has decided not to file applications for its Web3 top-level domains in ICANN’s 2026 expansion round, according to founder Matthew Gould, and the company will refund customers who bought related domains. Gould said the compliance, application, and bidding costs required to bring Web3 domains into the ICANN system were higher than the sales revenue the company expected to recover. The move ends a pledge the company had made since 2019 that domains such as .crypto and .wallet could eventually resolve in standard web browsers. ICANN’s application window for the current round opened on April 30 and closed on Aug. 12, drawing more than 1,600 primary applications. Gould said customers had been notified by email, though the company has not disclosed which extensions are affected or what refund terms will apply. Some holders have questioned the scope of refunds, saying they held the domains based on Unstoppable’s earlier commitment to pursue an ICANN application. Gould said the Web3 domains will still exist as onchain assets for crypto transactions. Unstoppable also remains active in ICANN-related business as a service provider and had previously announced a joint .gram application with Telegram. ENS, by contrast, is pursuing .ens through a restructured ENS Foundation, while not seeking .eth because it is reserved under ISO 3166-1 as a country-code designation.

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Unstoppable Domains skips ICANN bid for Web3 TLDs, promises refunds