Unstoppable Domains abandons ICANN application, refunds Web3 domain names

Matthew Gould, the founder of Unstoppable Domains, stated that the company did not submit an application for its Web3 top-level domains in ICANN's 2026 expansion round and will refund customers who purchased related domains. Gould mentioned that the compliance, application, and bidding costs of incorporating Web3 domains into the ICANN system exceeded the company's expected recoverable sales. This move ends the company's commitment since 2019 that domains like .crypto and .wallet would eventually be resolvable in standard browsers.

The application window for this round of ICANN opened on April 30 and closed on August 12, receiving over 1,600 major applications. Gould stated that customers have been notified via email, but the list of affected extensions and refund terms have not been disclosed. Some holders questioned the scope of the refunds, claiming they held the domains based on Unstoppable's commitment to advance the ICANN application. Gould responded that Web3 domains will still serve as on-chain assets for cryptocurrency transactions.

Unstoppable continues to participate in ICANN activities as a service provider and previously announced a partnership with Telegram to apply for the .gram domain. Meanwhile, ENS has chosen a different path, with token holders approving the restructuring of the ENS Foundation to pursue the .ens top-level domain in ICANN, but ENS will not apply for .eth, as it is reserved for ISO 3166-1 country codes.