Domain Incite

Tomorrow is lowkey Reveal Day

Kevin Murphy — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 08:15:28 +0000

ICANN’s much-anticipated new gTLD Reveal Day is tomorrow, October 7, but it’s going to be a much more subdued affair than the 2012 round. In 2012, there was a live, in-person event at a swanky hotel in London, led by senior ICANN execs, a panel discussion hosted by yours truly, a drinks reception, invited mainstream […]

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.bank registry looking for new boss

Kevin Murphy — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:22:27 +0000

fTLD Registry Services, which runs .bank and .insurance as restricted gTLDs for the financial services industry, is looking for a new president and CEO. Craig Schwartz, a one-time ICANNer who has been leading the company for 16 years, said on social media he’s planning to retire to spend more time travelling, and has put out […]

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Junk drop hits .my domains hard

Kevin Murphy — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 11:02:56 +0000

.my domains slumped hard in September, apparently as a result of a junk drop a year after a largely successful promotion. Local registry MYNIC is reporting 693,122 .my domains at the end of the month, down from 826,384 at the end of August. That’s a drop of 133,262 or about 16% over the 30 days. […]

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As GoDaddy loses .us to Identity Digital, some domains may be at risk

Kevin Murphy — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 10:03:02 +0000

Identity Digital will replace rival GoDaddy Registry as manager of the .us ccTLD, but new contractual terms could put some registrants — and potentially even registrars — at risk. The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration last week said it was giving the .us contract to Identity Digital after a lengthy bidding process. No money […]

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“Time to lawyer up…” Anger grows over Verisign’s .name bloodbath

Kevin Murphy — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 11:07:34 +0000

When Verisign said it wanted to unilaterally delete 22,000 .name domains from its registry, it assured ICANN that most of them were not in use and seizing them would not cause any security concerns. But “most” is not “all”, and the chorus of voices demanding a U-turn and essentially accusing the company of trying to […]

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stupid.domain.name owner fights Verisign turn-off

Kevin Murphy — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:03:45 +0000

The registrant of the domain name stupid.domain.name has become the second person to formally complain to ICANN about Verisign’s plan to delete his domain. Patrik Fältström has filed a Request for Reconsideration, asking ICANN to reverse its decision to allow Verisign to shut down several services associated with its .name gTLD. As I first reported […]

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Unliked — Chinese gTLD calls it quits

Kevin Murphy — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 04:53:34 +0000

Chinese technology giant Qihoo 360 is abandoning one of its portfolio of gTLDs, a Latinized version of the Chinese word for “to like”. The company has asked ICANN to terminate its registry contract for .xihuan, which never launched despite being in the root since 2016. No reason was given. It also has the gTLDs .anquan, […]

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.phone domain gets launch dates

Kevin Murphy — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 07:25:07 +0000

The rush to get long-dormant gTLDs on to the market before the 2026 cohort starts to come online continues apace, with Dish Registry announcing launch plans for .phone. The company intends to run its mandatory sunrise period from October 6 to January 4, with a 14-day premium-priced Early Access Period following the next day. General […]

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Domainer AI slop crackdown on the cards in Oz

Kevin Murphy — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 01:52:43 +0000

Startling rule changes have been proposed for Australia’s .au domain, potentially making it much tougher and more expensive to register names to monetize or resell. If implemented, the proposed new rule “effectively limits a registrant to registering a domain name that matches its name, business name or trade mark” in the .com.au and .net.au namespaces. […]

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Team Internet still expects over $160 million for domains business

Kevin Murphy — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 22:40:19 +0000

Team Internet is continuing talks to sell off its domain name business and seems confident it could close a deal worth $160 million or more before the end of the year. The company has been talking all year about disposing of its Domains, Identity & Software (DIS) division, recently saying it expected to be able […]

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