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The
Lowdown
Welcome to the
The Lowdown from
DN Journal - your source for notable news and information from all
corners of the global domain name industry!
The Lowdown is
compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher
Ron Jackson.
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to our
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Editor's
Note:
We
ran a preview story (posted further down this
page) about the Nordic Domain Days conference
that was held last week in Stockholm. They
had a great event that attracted over 400
attendees from around the world. We have
professional photos on the way that will be
featured in a complete conference review that we
expect to publish by the end of this week.
(Posted
Monday, June 1, 2026) |
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The
Internet Commerce Association Brought the Domain
Industry to Broadway With Special Event in New
York City |
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The Internet
Commerce Association (ICA), the
rapidly growing non-profit organization that
fights to protect domain owner's rights, took
another giant step forward last week in New
York City. The organization has played an
invaluable role in bringing domain professionals
from around the world together face to face
through their Annual Member Meetings held every January
in Las Vegas. This year, for the first
time, the ICA took their mission another step
ahead with an exclusive member gathering and
fundraiser held in the Big Apple May 19
& 20. |

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The
event, purposely limited to 50 attendees to deliver
a uniquely intimate experience, began with a special
Foodie Tour of some of New York's top
restaurants Tuesday evening (May 19). That was
followed Wednesday with a full day of business
sessions and networking, hosted by Squarespace
at their NYC office. Squarespace SVP and General
Manager Kevin Doerr (below) recently joined
the ICA's Board of Directors and he was delighted to
welcome ICA leaders and many of their most dedicated
members to the landmark event.
Above:
One of the many highlights Wednesday was the
appearance of Larry Fischer and his son and
business partner Jeff on stage to talk about
how they closed the biggest domain sale in
history last year (publicly revealed this year),
AI.com at $70 million. Larry & Jeff
represented the seller while John Mauriello
served as the buyer's broker.
Photo credits: All photos in this article are
courtesy of the ICA unless noted otherwise.
Above:
Another informative discussion centered on how to Monetize
Domains Without Selling. It featured, left
to right, Richard Lau (Logo.com), Braden
Pollock (Legal Brand Markeing.com), Inderpreet
Singh (D3) and Nena Hajakhani (Sedo). Below:
Attendees were also treated to an encore from
Larry Fischer who joined his friend and fellow Super
Broker Andrew Miller (ATMHoldings.com), at
left, to talk about closing High Value
Sales - a topic this duo knows intimately
well after closing many of the biggest transaction
on record. In sales reported so
far this year, Andrew has already been
credited with the $10 million sale of Club.com
and the $7.5 million sale of Green.com.
Above:
There was also a bittersweet moment in New
York that was of extraordinary significance for the
ICA. Since the founding day of the organization back
in 2006, Sedo General Counsel Jeremiah
Johnston (seen here with ICA Executive Director
Kamila Sekiewicz) has represented the company on
the ICA's Board of Directors. Jeremiah deserves enormous
credit for helping develop the ICA into the indispensable
industry advocate that it is today. He will be
leaving Sedo at the end of this month and will step
down from the ICA Board at the same time. Appreciative
members in New York let Jeremiah know how much they
appreciated his tireless efforts on behalf of the
organization. On LinkedIn
today, Jeremiah wrote, "A wonderful 20th anniversary celebration from the Internet Commerce Association last week in NYC — big thanks to
Kamila Sekiewicz, Zak Muscovitch, Tiffany
Mark, Jeanette Lalande, and the team at Squarespace for putting together such a memorable event. It was a great time surrounded by some of the domain industry's brightest minds, and I'm truly grateful for the thoughtful gift marking the close of my time on the board.
The domain industry is in great hands! Indeed
it is, as attendees at the ICA NYC gathering
(seen in this "class photo" from Board
Member Ryan McKegney) will surely attest!
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(Posted
May 25, 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0525.htm
*****
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OpusDNS
Adds Domain Monetization Solution With Acquisition
of fruits.co |
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Just
seven months after being launched
by domain industry pioneers in
October, OpusDNS
GmbH has announced a key acquisition.
The company, founded by Hakan
Ali and Robbie
Birkner, revealed the acquisition of
fast growing domain monetization platform fruits.co,
a company founded by Dr.
Fabian Heuschele four years ago this
month. In the announcement, OpenDNS noted that the
move is a clear signal that "the future of the
domain market lies in open, innovative
platforms and not in closed, technologically
outdated systems." Since its launch as a forward-thinking new
domain registrar, OpusDNS has attracted 350
partners that were drawn to its registrar and
management infrastructure. With fruits.co OpenDNS
adds a monetization solution that has
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gained ground with a focus on performance,
revenue optimization, and continuous development.
Together, OpusDNS and fruits.co represent a
portfolio of several million domains.
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Hakan Ali said, "Our ambition is to continuously
develop new features that offer our
partners additional value – both technically
and economically. We evaluated a number of
domain marketplaces that are currently
available for acquisition, however none
aligned with our strategic vision. Many of the
existing systems are technologically outdated
and lack a sustainable foundation for
innovation. On the other hand, fruits.co
clearly turned out to be the strongest
monetization platform in terms of speed,
technology, and market position. Equally
compelling was the team behind it, combining
deep expertise with the same entrepreneurial
mindset that defines OpusDNS."
Dr. Heuschele told us, "We share a
strong vision with OpusDNS for modernizing
the domain industry. Together, we’re
building what we aim to become the leading
platform and infrastructure layer for domain
management and monetization
globally." |

Opus
DNS Co-Founder Hakan Ali |
Robbie Birkner added, "We do not see
ourselves as a traditional competitor. Rather, our
ambition is to complement and extend existing
ecosystems, equipping our partners with the tools
they need to unlock greater value.”
Both platforms will remain operational and continue to
be managed independently, benefiting from shared expertise, a focused product strategy, and enhanced innovation capabilities.
|
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(Posted
May 20 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0520.htm
*****
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Nordic
Domain Days Founder Details How His Team Plans to Set a
New Standard at 2026 Event Next Week in Stockholm |
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After
hosting their landmark 10th anniversary show
last year, Nordic
Domain Days is embarking on a new
decade next week. From day one, the scope of
the popular spring time event in Stockholm
has continually expanded under the direction of
Founder & Curator Lars "LG"
Forsberg. So much so that people now come from
around the world to see what is happening
in that vibrant region. It's a rare once a year
opportunity to meet the movers and shakers in one
place - a place that also happens to be one of
the most scenic on earth. With
its 10-year track record, you might think you know
what to expect next week but if we learned
anything from NDD and LG, it's that
standing still in unacceptable. To get the inside
story we connected with LG to find out what's ahead for attendees next
week. "Last
year was special," LG began. "Over
400 people from 55 countries came to Stockholm to
celebrate ten years of Nordic Domain Days, and it
would have been easy to rest on that. Instead,
we took the energy from 2025 and asked ourselves:
what if we just keep going? The theme for 2026 is
"Turning it up to 11," a nod to
the Spinal Tap scene where the amp dial goes one
past ten. It captures exactly where we are."
"This
year we have expanded to a full two-day program.
Monday is our Business Day, covering the
Domain Industry Update, the Future of the
Internet, and an expanded Domain Investment
segment curated by Giuseppe Graziano with
three back-to-back panels. Tuesday, the main stage
is dedicated to Policy, Legal and Abuse in the
morning, followed by our Tech! segment in the
afternoon. We have introduced Master Classes on
Tuesday morning (two deep-dive hands-on sessions
running alongside the main stage), and the DNS
Abuse Workshop returns for its fifth year in
partnership with eco and topDNS. "The
things people come back for have not changed. The
format is still physical-only, no streaming, no
recording. We still cap attendance around 450
because we believe the quality of conversations
in the hallway are as important as the ones on
stage. The Welcome Drinks on Sunday night, the |


Lars
"LG" Forsberg
NDD Founder & Curator
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VIP Dinner,
the Monday evening Meatball Dinner and the Grand
Social Event with live music on stage, the
Farewell Dinner on Tuesday, the karaoke, and yes,
the tattoos…These are all part of what makes NDD
feel less like a conference and more like a
reunion." |
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"What is new beyond the program is the scale of
the production. We have more partners than ever (over
50 organizations supporting the event), more
speakers (35+ stage appearances across both days),
and registrations are running ahead of last year. We
are more or less sold out since a few weeks
back, only releasing cancelled tickets."
With
those comments, the interview was just getting
started. Here is the rest of the conversation:
DNJournal:
This is shaping up to be a landmark year for the
domain industry. We are in a booming aftermarket
and of course a long-awaited round of new gTLD
applications has now opened. What are some of
the sessions and who are some of the featured
speakers who will be in Stockholm to talk about
these and other timely topics?
LG
Forsberg: "The new round is a big
topic for us. Raymond King, CEO of Porkbun,
is on stage Monday morning with a session
specifically on the 2026 round. Theresa Swinehart,
SVP Global Domains and Strategy at ICANN, delivers a
keynote, and Aysegul Tekce from ICANN follows
with a deeper session on the expansion of domain
names. Stuart Dinnes, Head of Channel EMEA at
Verisign, rounds out the morning with a look at
domain name industry trends and drivers.
On
the investment and aftermarket side, Giuseppe
Graziano has put together a strong afternoon
with three panel sessions devoted to Domain
Investment.

(Left
to right): Alan Shiflett (GoDaddy), Braden
Pollock (Legal Brand Marketing) and Giuseppe
Graziano (GGRG.com) during a live edition of The
Breakfast Club at NDD last year.
The
Breakfast Club podcast will return to the
stage next week, followed by a panel on what decades
in the domain business teach you, featuring Monte
Cahn from RightOfTheDot, Kimberly Darwin,
Yiqiu Tao from Dynadot, and Dave Evanson
from Sedo. The third panel tackles domain
monetization with Rickard Vikstrom from
DomainCrawler, Paul Dinin from Giant Panda,
James Tuplin from Above.com
and Claus Barche from Taku by GMO.
On
the policy and abuse side, Keith Drazek from
Verisign and Bertrand de la Chapelle from the
Internet and Jurisdiction Policy Network open
Tuesday with an update on the Internet
Infrastructure Forum. Thomas Rickert from eco
covers NIS2, ICANN's DNS Abuse Mitigation PDP, and
what comes next. Rowena Schoo from NetBeacon
Institute, Prudence Malinki from MarkMonitor,
and Henry Chan from the Trusted Notifier
Network add depth to what is probably the strongest
policy lineup we have had.
The Tech!
segment on Tuesday afternoon, hosted by Ulrich
Wisser from ICANN, has seven sessions running
from DNSSEC automation to Anycast DNS operations to
dangling DNS threats. And our two Master Classes
cover crypto agility (DigiCert and Excedo Networks)
and AI tools for domain investors (Alan Shiflett,
GoDaddy).
The
common thread is practical, honest content. We do
not do sales pitches on stage. Every speaker is
there to share something the audience can take home
and use.

LG
Forsberg welcoming at full house at NDD 2025 last
year in Stockholm.
DNJournal:
Alongside the extraordinary line up of speakers and
sessions, Stockholm itself is a big reason
people that NDD has flourished. What kind of
networking and local flavor experiences will
be part of NDD 2026?
LG Forsberg: Stockholm
in late May is hard to beat. The sun barely sets,
temperatures are above 20 degrees Celsius, and the
city comes alive. The venue, Clarion Hotel
Stockholm, is in Sodermalm, the part of the city
with the best restaurants, bars, and atmosphere.
The
social program is where NDD really separates itself.
Sunday evening starts with Welcome Drinks in the
Living Room Bar, followed by the VIP Dinner (a
three-course seated affair), and then .blog Sunday
Night Live with karaoke on the main stage. Monday
after the program wraps, we have After Work drinks,
the traditional Meatball Dinner (yes, Swedish
meatballs every year, and you always eat too many!),
and then the Grand Social Event with live music acts
performing on the main stage. I will keep the lineup
as a surprise, but if people were at NDD 2025 with Dr.
Alban and Gunther, they know we do not
do things halfway. Tuesday closes with a
Farewell Dinner, this year a Swedish Taco Buffe.

Live
music will be a big part of NDD's social program
again this year.
Throughout
the event, there is the NameSRS Arcade Lounge,
the NDD Pinball Corner, the VIP Lounge
hosted by Hello Registry, our meeting spaces,
and of course, something we do not advertise ahead
of time but has become one of the most talked-about
traditions at NDD. I will leave it at that.
The
real magic is the format itself. By keeping
everyone under one roof, at one hotel, eating
together, socializing together, and staying
together, the connections happen naturally. There is
no running between halls, no competing side events,
no splitting the group. That is by design and it is
the single most important thing we do.
DNJournal: While
domains are a global platform, every region has
their unique characteristics. What is the current
domain business environment like in the Nordic
countries (and for their respective ccTLDs)?
LG
Forsberg: The Nordics are in an
interesting position. The ccTLDs common here (.se,
.dk, .fi, .no, .is, and .nu) are mature,
well-run, and trusted. They are not the
fastest-growing TLDs in the world, but they are
among the most stable. Internetstiftelsen,
which operates .se and .nu, continues to invest
heavily in DNS infrastructure, security, and
research. They are one of our partners this year,
and Kristian Ormen from their team opens the
program on Monday with a session on thick versus
thin registries, which ties directly into a major
structural change they are implementing for .se.
What
is distinctive about the Nordic domain market is the
trust factor. Consumers and businesses in
Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland have high trust
in their local ccTLDs. A .se domain carries weight
in a way that is hard to replicate with a generic
extension. At the same time, the registrar landscape
is competitive and innovative. Companies like Loopia,
Oderland, and NameISP are pushing
modern, user-friendly approaches to domain
management.
The
broader trend we see is that the Nordic domain
community punches well above its weight
internationally. Netnod runs some of the
most critical DNS infrastructure in the world from
Stockholm. The DNS Abuse conversation that is
shaping global policy has strong Nordic voices. And
the investment and aftermarket side, while smaller
than the US market, is sophisticated and growing.
NDD
itself reflects this. We started as a Nordic
event, but today over 75% of our attendees come
from outside the Nordic countries. The Nordics
gave us the foundation, the values, and the
meatballs. The world showed up for the rest!
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(Posted
May 19, 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0519.htm
*****
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A
Peak Inside GoDaddy's First Free Domain Investor
Meetup Held at the Industry Giant's Arizona Office
Last Week |
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GoDaddy
issued an open invitation for domain investors to
attend a free Domain Investor Meetup that
was held at the company's Tempe, Arizona office on
May 7, 2026. Space was limited so attendance was
limited to the first 40 people to sign up for the
unique opportunity.
Attendees
came from as far away as Texas to take advantage
of the invitation to spend one on one time and
learn from GoDaddy's experts. They included one of
the best in the business in Joe Styler, the
Senior Marketing Manager for GoDaddy's Domain
Academy, who hosted the event. When
guests arrived for the Meetup that ran from 3pm to
7pm they began with an office tour, snacks and
networking. At 4pm they were able to choose
one of three breakout tracks. Each was led
by a different team that focused on a key category
of the domain investment workflow.
The
sessions offered were: |


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Anthony
Kirlew (Domainicate.com) and,
at right, Joe Styler (GoDaddy's
Domain Academy) at the Domain Investor
Meetup GoDaddy hosted at their Tempe,
Arizona office on May 7, 2026. |
|
-
Auctions API
- One of the engineers behind the platform,
Mihai Nicolae, walked investors through the
Auctions API and allowed them to get hands on
access to the API.
-
Afternic listing
+ selling - Adam Ramsdell took the
investors through a hands-on masterclass of how
to list domains for maximum exposure, best
practices for Lease to Own, plus listing
optimization.
-
DomainNames.com
- Tom McCarthy (who has over $75 million
in lifetime domain sales, over 9,000 deals) took
investors through what DomainNames.com
accomplishes, what sets it apart from other
brokerages, and the marketing approach behind
DomainNames.com.
Those provided about
three hours of quality time spent with the actual
builders in a small enough group to get specific
questions answered. Many thought the Auctions
API session alone was worth the trip. Programmatic
access to GoDaddy Auctions is a competitive
edge that most investors haven’t explored yet,
and learning it directly from the engineer who
works on the platform daily is not something you’ll find
in a tutorial.

Above
& below: Scenes from the breakoput sessions
courtesy of attendee Anthoy Kirlew.

After the sessions
wrapped, many attendees took advantage of one of the
wide variety of dinner spots in Tempe to continue
their conversations. The Meetup drew so much
positive feedback there could well be more to come!
|
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(Posted
May 12, 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0512.htm
*****
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.ART Celebrates 10th Anniversary
By Launching .ART Award Program With Prizes Valued
at Over $50,000 |
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The .ART
domain registry is celebrating their 10th
anniversary this year. To mark the occasion
they have launched the .ART
Award, a new global awards program
with more than $50,000 in prize value for
artists worldwide, including a cash First Prize of
$15,000.
The
thing that makes the new award different from
other art prizes is the focus — instead
of just submitting a finished work, artists
share their creative process through their
.ART domain. The domain can point to a website,
profile page or social media |

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presence
that tells their story and source of inspiration, as
well as showing their art. There is no cost to enter
and put yourself in the running for these prizes:
-
$15,000
Grand Prize
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Artist
residencies in France and Spain
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A
major editorial feature in Whitewall Magazine
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A
premium .ART domain valued at $10,000
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Additional
prizes will be announced throughout the
application period.
An
all-star 10-person jury including Jerry Saltz (Critic,
New York Magazine), Dean Phelus (AAM)
and Akanksha Ballaney (Artsy/Artnet),
to name just a few, will select the winners. Applications
will remain open through November 1, 2026
with winners to be announced at Art Basel Miami in
December.
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(Posted
May 11, 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0511.htm
*****
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Today's
10th Anniversary of Armenia's IDN Shows How
Domains Can Become a Source of National
Pride |
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We
posted an article
Monday about worldwide domain registrations
nearing the 400 million mark. That is an
astounding number - one that will become a reality
because people around the globe have discovered
the countless ways domains can be used to create
something long-lasting and meaningful that is
accessible to anyone, anywhere with just the click
of mouse. In many cases domains become a point of national
pride - something we are seeing today as
Armenian celebrates the 10th anniversary of .հայ
- the nation's native language IDN
(internationalized domain name). ICANN
approved the TLD on April 26, 2016 and it
was launched for public use on May
5, 2016 by the administrator - Internet
Society of Armenia (ISOC |

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Armenia),
the organizatiuon that also oversees Armenia's .AM
country code top level domain. As
noted in an article at ArmenianDomains.com,"The introduction of the .հայ domain was intended to encourage the visibility of online content and websites in the Armenian language and
script, helping Armenian entities establish a unique online presence
that mirrors their cultural and linguistic heritage.
Many Armenian websites using the .AM ccTLD have also acquired their .հայ equivalent either to use as a separate website in the
native language of Armenia or forward the domain to their .AM website." More
insight into the impact that a native script
TLD like .հայ
came from a recent meeting
of Armernian leaders devoted to growing
the TLD's user base and drawing more attention to
Armenian langiage content online. In that
discussion, Kristina Hakobyan, Board Vice
Chair of the Internet Society NGO, emphasized
that Armenian, as one of the world’s oldest
languages with its own distinct alphabet,
deserves a strong presence in the global digital
environment. She said, "Expanding opportunities
for online communication in Armenian not only helps preserve
national identity, but also addresses practical
needs by improving internet accessibility for
wider segments of society."
Last
year's 9th anniversary celebration of the the first
registration in the Armenian-script .հայ
included a festive flashmob featuring a performance
by “Karin” Folk, Song and Dance Group. It was
organized by Internet Society NGO – the
manager of both .am and
.հայ domains.
(Photo courtesy of ISOC.AM)
With the
10th anniversary approaching, the March 2026 meeting
was also scheduled with an eye on a Universal
Acceptance Day event that was held soon
after on March 31st in Yerevan. On that topic
Kristina noted that Armenia’s participation in the
global Universal
Acceptance movement marked a significant
milestone in this effort. The initiative seeks to
guarantee that all languages and domain names are
fully recognized and supported across the internet. Siranush
Dvoyan, Chair of the Language Committee of the
Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of
Armenia, also took part and presented the Language
Committee’s efforts to advance the digital
transformation of Armenian, broaden the scope of
Armenian-language content online and enhance its
overall quality. She stressed the importance of
effective collaboration between government
institutions and professional organizations to
expand the use of Armenian in the digital sphere.
|
|
(Posted
May 5, 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0505.htm
|
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Worldwide
Domain Name Registrations Nearing the 400 Million
Mark After a Healthy 1st Quarter Detailed in
Latest Verisign Industry Brief |
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VeriSign,
(the administrator of the .com and .net
TLDs) has released their latest quarterly Domain
Name Industry Brief (DNIB) covering
the 1st quarter of 2026. This update showed
that the total number of domain registrations
across all TLDs worldwide ended the most
recent quarter at 392.5 million. With
24.1 million domains added over the past year,
that reprsents a healthy 6.5% leap year
over year. As a point of comparison, at the end of
Q1-2025 total domains registered had only risen
1.7% from the previous year.
.Com,
by far, the dominant TLD on the Internet, ended
the latest quarter with 163.6 million
registered domains, up 6.4 million YOY,
representing a 4% increase. .Net
went the opposite direction with a slight dip from
12.6 million registrations last year to 12.4
million at the end of 1Q-2026. |

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ccTLDs
finished the latest quarter with 146.3million
registrations, 3.4 million more than a year
ago, representing a 2.4% increase YOY. New
gTLDs, working from a smaller user base, were
able to pile up more impressive gains percentage
wise. With 49.6 million registrations at the
end of 1Q-2026, the new G's were up a whopping 31.3%
after adding 11.8 milliion domains over the
past year.
For
legacy gTLDs not including .com and .net (a
group dominated by .org that also includes
older TLDs that were released prior to the beginning
of ICANN's new gTLD program in 2012 like .info and
.biz), registrations stood at 20.5 million at
the end of the latest quarter, up 2.6 million domains
from a year ago. That gave this group a double digit
increase of 14.6% year over year.
|
|
(Posted
May 4, 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0504.htm
*****
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D3
Announced the Launch of Domain Asset Vehicles - the First Tokenized Institutional Domain Portfolio
- Today at Dominion 2026 in Las Vegas |
|
Dominion
2026 - billed as "The
Ultimate Liquidity Event for Domain Investors"
- is running today and tomorrow (April 29
& 30) at Resorts World in Las Vegas
where D3
took advantage of the spotlight to break some
major company news. D3, the
core contributor to Doma
Protocol - the Domain Name System
(DNS)-compliant blockchain for tokenizing
internet domains - announced the launch of Domain
Asset Vehicles (DAVs). D3's
press release states "DAVs convert entire
institutional domain portfolios into a single
tokenized asset that gives investors access to shared
ownership of premium domain portfolios,
onchain. Fred
Hsu, Co-Founder and CEO of D3,
said “The domain industry has been sitting
on a multi-billion-dollar asset class with
|

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virtually no financial
infrastructure to match its value. DAVs
give
institutional portfolio owners a way to access
liquidity at scale without giving up control of
the assets that define their business.”
(File
photo): In January, D3 Co-Founder & CEO Fred
Hsu (in gray sports coat at top left), drew a
crowd to his Guru Table at the 2026 Internet
Commerce Association Annual Meeting in Las
Vegas where attendees took the opportunity to
learn more about D3's determination to turn domain
names into liquid assets.
Hsu noted that domain names represent a $360 billion asset class but are largely illiquid, with portfolios sitting idle for years between sales. DAVs bundle an entire domain portfolio into a single
token, then sales of the DAV on Doma Protocol flow to the portfolio owner while the domains remain listed and sell as usual
on existing marketplaces, with proceeds automatically distributed back to token
holders.
DAVs build
on Doma Protocol's existing track record of domain
tokenization. Since launching mainnet in
December 2025, the protocol has processed over $76
million in trading volume across 10 million+
transactions, with 46,000 unique wallets and 425+
premium fractional domain launches. According to the
press release, "DAVs extend this infrastructure
to institutional scale, giving registrars,
domain funds, and large portfolio holders access to
the same onchain liquidity rails now available to
individual premium domains across popular ecosystems
like Solana, Base, and Avalanche.
|
In
another announcement made at the
Dominion 2026 conference,
D3 introduced their Doma Agentic
Engine, a new tool to improve the
discoverability of domains for AI agents. The
Doma Agentic Engine gives domain owners a
real-time score into how AI agents perceive
and interact with their domains, portfolios,
and websites — surfacing content gaps,
missing protocols endpoints, and lost
opportunities. Any domain on Doma can use
the Agentic Engine’s one-click
remediation tools and go from
undiscoverable to fully agent-ready in
minutes.
Inder
Singh, Vice President of Product
and Technology at D3, said, "Every
domain owner is about to face a choice:
become part of the agentic internet or get
left behind. Agent discovery optimization
(ADO) will be to the agentic internet what
search engine optimization (SEO) was to
Google." |

Image
from Bigstock |
The first
set of DAVs and the Doma Agentic Engine will both
go live in Q2 2026. D3 is currently taking
applications for institutional domain investors and
registrars to create and launch their own DAVs. The
Domain Asset Vehicle is live at dav.doma.xyz
and the Doma Agentic Engine at ai.doma.xyz.
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|
(Posted
April 29, 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0429.htm
*****
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Last
Opportunity to Lock in Lowest Price to Attend
NamesCon Global 2026 in Miami Will Be Expiring
Friday Night (April 24). |
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All
roads in the domain world will be leading to Miami
for the 2026
NamesCon Global conference that is
coming up November 11 & 12 when the big
show returns to the downtown Ice Palace
where it ran for the first time in Florida last
year. If you register
before midnight Friday night (April 24) you
can cut the cost of attending dramatically. That's
when the super early bid ticket offer that cuts
the $999 Standard Pass price to just $349 will
end. |

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If
you're under 30, you can save even more with a new
Under 30 Pass that NameCon is introducing to make it
more affordable for newcomers to meet and learn from
the broad array of industry leaders and pioneers who
make NamesCon Global a can't miss event. As always,
we will be there to cover it all, of course.
Above:
A scene from the live domain auction at the 2025
NamesCon Global conference at the Ice Palace in
Miami last November. Below:
A shot from the Closing Night party at Wynwood Falls
in the Miami Art District.
(Photo credit: Eddie Sixto).
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For
2026, NamesCon organizers are promising a bigger
than ever custom built event "for the domain
industry and broader identity ecosystem, from
registries and registrars navigating a changing
regulatory and competitive landscape to domain
investors and digital asset holders tracking where
value is moving." We hope to see you there!
(Posted
April 20, 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0420.htm
*****
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Race
for 2026 .ORG Impact Awards Opens With Call for
Nominations - Winners Will Share a $180,000 Pool
of Prize Money
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Public
Interest Registry (PIR), the
nonprofit stewards of the .ORG domain, has opened
nominations for the 8th annual .ORG
Impact Awards. The awards are the centerpiece
of a celebration that recognizes outstanding
mission-driven individuals and organizations
from the global .ORG Community for their
positive contributions to society.
PIR's
.ORG top-level domain has powered mission-driven
organizations around the globe for over 40
years. From large corporations to small
community groups to multinational NGOs, .ORGs work
to positively
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impact the communities
they
serve. Over the past eight years, the .ORG
Impact Awards have recognized more than 300 outstanding
.ORGs from over 120 countries. Through the
Awards, PIR has awarded $865,000 for
transformative work taking place around the world.
|

Jon
Nevett
CEO, Public Interest Registry |
PIR
CEO Jon Nevett noted, "The .ORG
Impact Awards remind us that meaningful
change often starts at the community
level, driven by people who see a need
and come together to take action. Our .ORG
Community of changemakers inspires us every
year. As we open this year's nominations,
we're excited to uplift and celebrate the
next wave of changemakers who are
reimagining what's possible and
strengthening communities around the
world."
Applications
will be accepted from now to May 27, 2026.
The categories include:
-
Health
and Healing
-
Quality
Education for All
-
Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion
-
Environmental
Stewardship
-
Hunger
and Poverty
-
Community
Building
-
Rising
Star
|
Applications
are free and open to any organization with a
.ORG domain. The Rising Star category is open to any
individual under the age of 30 affiliated with a
.ORG domain. The award categories are designed to be
inclusive of any and all .ORGs that are working to
make a positive impact in the world. Organizations
may apply for multiple categories of awards
if more than one category is a good fit. The top
five entries in each category will be named as
finalists on August 11, 2026. Five
finalists will be named in each category with all
35 finalists being invited to attend the final
awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. with
complimentary travel and opportunities to meet with
other .ORG Community leaders and hosted by a
celebrity on October 6, 2026. Category winners
and the 2026 .ORG of the Year will be announced at
the award ceremony. Winners of each category will
take home $10,000 in donation award funds,
and the .ORG of the Year will receive a total
of $50,000. The 35 finalists across all
categories will receive a $2,500 donation.
To
nominate an organization or individual for a .ORG
Impact Award, visit www.orgimpactawards.org.
|
|
(Posted
April 17, 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0417.htm
*****
|
|
Andrew
Miller Reveals $10 Million Sale of Club.com in
2025 - One of Top Ten Publicly Reported Domain
Sales of All Time |
|
Pioneering
domain broker Andrew
Miller (President at ATM
Holdings and Strategic Advisor to Hilco
Digital) has closed many of the top
domain sales of all time. While many of those have
been made public over the years, most have been
subject to non-disclosure agreements, Today
Andrew, who was profiled in our April 2024 Cover
Story, revealed one of his biggest
sales to date in a post
to his LinkedIn account. Representing the buyer in
a deal closed early last year, Andrew, via ATM
Holdings and Hilco Digital, orchestrated a $10
million sale of Club.com. |

Image
from Bigstock
|
|

Andrew
Miller |
Andrew
said “ I rarely get to proactively
disclose the price of a major category defining
and exact match brand domain
transaction that I oversee as they are under
NDA. In some cases, such as Chat .com
($15.5 million), the buyer discloses it,
in others like Rocket.com ($15 million)
and Gold.com ($8.6 million), the
price is disclosed in a 10Q filing. Today is
a rare exception, and I can confirm that
we at ATM Holdings/Hilco Digital oversaw
the sale of Club .com last year for $10
million and this morning the business
that acquired it has emerged from
stealth mode. I am so excited to
watch the company become a category leader,
just as its founders have with their other
businesses, Stake and Kick. Club
is an invite-only social platform built
for creators. Powered by Club Cash,
it gives creators a new way to engage, grow,
and monetize their audience. Congrats and
good luck to a good friend and his entire
team! You are going to crush it!” |
|
At
$10 million, Club.com ties with
Connect.com in the #10 position
on our list of the biggest
publicly reported domain sales of all time.
It also becomes the #2 sale on our 2025
Top 100 Sales Chart.
Editor's
Note: After publication of this
article we learned there had been a
miscommunication regarding the month
Club.com was sold in last year. It was in
June rather than February as we originally
thought. Usually that makes no difference
but in this case it plays a role in how we
chart domains. If a sale is being reported
for the first time and has closed within
the past 12 months, we put it on our
latest bi-weekly
Top 20 sales chart and add it to
the current year's YTD
Sales Chart. If older, we put it
on the Top 100 Chart in our public Archive
for the year in which it sold. As a result,
Club.com was placed on the 2025 Top 100.
When we release our next bi-weekly domain
sales update the evening of April 29,
we will move Club.com to the 2026 YTD Chart
and it will also be included on the next Top
20 Sales Chart as it closed well within the
12-month window for both. |
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|
(Posted
April 14 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0414.htm
*****
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NamesCon
Global 2026 Gearing Up With a New Partnership, a
Chief Evangelist and Super Early Bird Ticket
Prices That End Soon |
|
NamesCon
Global has some very ambitious plans for
their return to Miami for the 2026
conference that will be held November 11 &
12. The groundwork is being laid early
to facilitate some big changes in the agenda,
partnerships and floor plan - all designed to
deliver the most productive NamesCon meeting to
date. Toward that end, NamesCon is teaming
up with the i2Coalition
and Domain
Name Association to build out a shared
space for registries, registrars, investors,
brokers, and domain professionals to come
together with the partners shaping what’s
next for the domain ecosystem. i2 Coalition |

|
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Co-Founder
and Executive Director Christian
Dawson is so committed to the task he
has taken on additional duties as Chief
Evangelist for NamesCon Global. Christian
said, “The i2Coalition and Domain Name Association represent the companies shaping the Internet’s infrastructure and the domain
ecosystem. Together with NamesCon Global, this partnership brings the industry’s key players into one place to connect, collaborate, and help drive what comes next.” A
steady stream of details will be forthcoming in the
weeks and months ahead as NamesCon's vision for
their return to the Ice Palace in downtown
Miamii comes together (you can see how their first
Miami event last November played out in our 2025
NamesCon Global review). There
is already one important detail about the
2026 conference that you will want to act on right
away if you want to save some money. That is the
show's Super
Early Bird ticket offer that is now
open. The deal shaves the $999 cost of the Standard
Pass down to just $349 but the price will be going
up on Friday, April 24.
|
|
(Posted
April 8, 2026) To refer others to the post
above only (and not the full Lowdown
column) you can use this URL:
https://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2026/posts/0408.htm
*****
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If you've
been out of the loop lately, catch up in the Lowdown
Archive! |
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| We
need your help to keep giving domainers The
Lowdown, so please email [email protected]
with any interesting information you might have. If
possible, include the source of your information so we can
check it out (for example a URL if you read it in a forum
or on a site elsewhere). |
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