ICANN Application for .ETH and .ENS TLDs

DAO-Wide General Discussion
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TL;DR

ICANN recently opened applications for the next round of gTLD applications. Several blockchain-based name services like .chain (3DNS/Optimism) and .NEAR (D3N/Near) are preparing to register their TLDs in the ICANN-approved root.

As the largest blockchain-based name service, ENS should proactively secure the .eth and .ens roots in the ICANN-approved namespace.

Current Status of .ETH

As many in the ENS DAO are aware, “ETH” is the ISO code for Ethiopia, which means Ethiopia could technically claim it as a ccTLD and administer the domain.

According to head ENS dev @nick, ”[i}f Ethiopia requested it be delegated in the global root as a ccTLD, and appointed ENS as the registry, it’d be possible to reflect the entire .eth registry in DNS, because we and Ethiopia would set the rules - no UDRP if we don’t want it.”

The ideal path would involve Ethiopia claiming the TLD and appointing ENS as the registry. Since ccTLDs are not subject to special ICANN rules, the ENS DAO could directly negotiate with Ethiopia and set its own standards.

ICANN automatically reserves two-letter ISO country codes, but how three-letter codes are handled remains unclear. If ICANN were to reserve all three-letter ISO codes, an application for .eth as a gTLD could be rejected outright. However, based on prior discussions in 2021 and 2022, there is a strong indication that ICANN might consider .eth as a gTLD rather than a ccTLD.

.ETH as a gTLD.

ICANN has reopened applications for new gTLDs after nearly 12 years. This round includes nuanced opportunities, such as the Applicant Support Program, which offers guidance and resources for up to 45 applicants.

Challenges in Getting .ETH as a gTLD

The ICANN Applicant Support Program Handbook outlines several prerequisites for operating a registry, including: data escrow, dispute resolution mechanisms, sunrise period for trademark claims, and stable IP resolution infrastructure.

Given that ENS operates as permissionless blockchain software, it would struggle to meet many of these requirements while maintaining its ethos of decentralisation. These challenges would need to be addressed if ENS were to operate a blockchain-based TLD within the global root.

Read more about the requirements here: 1 2 and 3.

.ETH and .ENS as Complementary Services

To meet ICANN’s requirements, ENS could position .eth and .ens are complementary services to the existing onchain registry. This approach would allow users who wish to host websites using ENS to register off-chain TLDs that are compliant with ICANN standards while maintaining the benefits of the blockchain-based system.

How to Achieve This: The .BOX Example

3DNS and .box have successfully integrated ICANN-compliant ENS domains using the .box TLD. Additionally, they have tokenised traditional TLDs like .com and .io to bring them onchain. Their approach has given us valuable insights into approaching the complex situation.

In this approach, we would maintain two parallel systems:

  • The existing onchain registry remains fully decentralised and permissionless.
  • A separate ICANN-compliant registry for .eth and .ens domains within the ICANN root.
  • Existing ENS holders should be able to claim their SLD during the sunrise period in an ICANN-compliant manner.

Financial Implications

Pursuing ICANN approval and operating a gTLD involve significant financial commitments, including:

  1. Application Fee:

  2. ICANN charges a non-refundable application fee; in 2012 approximately $185,000 was charged per TLD. This fee covers ICANN’s evaluation and application processing.

  3. TLD auction fees

  4. 1 million USD+, see for example:

1. [Namecheap bought a Handshake domain for $750k](https://domainnamewire.com/2022/03/18/a-handshake-domain-apparently-just-sold-for-750k/)
2. [.crypto | Handshake top-level domain | Namebase](https://www.namebase.io/domains/crypto)
  1. Operational Costs
  2. Legal and Consulting Fees

.ENS as an Alternative To .ETH in the Global Root?

If securing .eth TLD, is unsuccessful during this application period, the DAO should consider.ens as an alternative option within the ICANN approved global root. Unlink .eth the .ens abbreviation is uniquely tied to the Ethereum Name Service and doesn’t conflict with the ISO standards. This approach will enable our goal to integrate the private-key based Name space directly into the current IP-based architecture.

Open Questions:

  • Do we need a separate legal entity to go through the application process on behalf of the ENS DAO?
  • How does an .eth TLD on the global root go along with ENS Labs roadmap?
  • Governance and compliance in practice?
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A useful summary !

$227,000 in 2026. See here.

The auction price will likely be vast noting that this is crypto and there are a lot of well resourced teams who would likely be happy to compete for .eth/.ens were they presented the opportunity.

In practice getting .ETH will be extremely tough. I believe there have been efforts from ENS Labs in that regard, but they have not been publicly disclosed. @Alexu ?

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Hey all, happy to jump in here and clarify a few things.

With regard to the treatment of .eth as a string, as was the case in the 2012 round of DNS expansion through ICANN, .eth is not up for grabs. There are a number of geography-related strings that ICANN has stated are off limits in both the 2012 and 2026 gTLD application rounds.

One of those categories of reserved strings are the alpha-3 codes listed in the ISO 3166-1 standard. This is where .eth is found and why ICANN will not entertain any applications to delegate that string. This moots some of the commentary provided and the query from Thomas so I will move onto the general questions raised about the new gTLD program.

We are very much aware of and engaged with ICANN and its new gTLD application process. We are giving careful consideration to the strings for which we may want to apply. As a live and functional proof of concept bridging web2 and web3, .box is a great example of what TLDs can accomplish by integrating with ENS. Moreover, we are actively working to facilitate additional DNS/ENS integrations and expect great things to come of this.

There is a great deal of activity in this space right now and we are excited about things to come. Stay tuned for more updates.

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Thanks for writing this @Baer_DAOplomats and thanks for clarifying @Alexu.

In my service provider role, I regularly talk to prospective clients, and I can attest to the fact that they absolutely love the connection with DNS. The option to tokenize traditional domains and use them as wallet names and/or issue subnames from them in different ways, is very well received, especially after we realize that .eth name they want is taken.

I’m saying all of this to express my excitement for more DNS-related announcements, integrations, and features, and gTLDs are 10x-ing my excitement.

plural? :eyes:

I’d appreciate if you could share any details about this (as much as you’re able to at this moment).

Generally speaking, I’m quite interested in learning more about this, especially how it all connects with Namechain. Lots of opportunities there. Thank you.

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Although some open questions exist, this is absolutely an exciting news for ENS.

I don’t think this would be possible without a separate legal entity, right?

And waiting for your clarification of more updates, thank you.

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