Many top level domains applied for this year have a connection to web3: think .crypto and .nft.

But for many years, web3 companies have offered alt-root "domains" matching these top level domains on blockchain-based systems. What happens if one of those alt-root systems wants to integrate with the matching real top level domain? And how can TLDs add web3 functionality within ICANN's rules?

That's the question an ICANN technical study group sought to answer this year.

On today's show, one of the group's members discusses what the group determined. Don Ruiz is general manager of Orange Domains. Orange operates .locker, a domain from the 2012 expansion round, and offers web3 integrations.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out as some of these new domains hit the root.

Also: EasyGroup threat, new TLDs, Known, and a GoDaddy takeover?

Sponsor: Spaceship

AI changes everything, and that includes domain names and the web presence business.

As Wall Street tries to figure out the winners and losers, many incumbent large tech companies, including GoDaddy, have seen their share prices fall.

This week, I chat with Vinod Suresh, VP of Product Management at GoDaddy. Vinod explains how AI is impacting businesses through democratization, compression, and delegation.

Democratization means more people will become builders. Compression refers to how quickly things get done. As for delegation: bring on the agents.

Beyond creating AI products, GoDaddy uses AI internally. Democratization, compression, and delegation are on display at the company, too.

Vinod also opines on what AI means for the importance of domain names going forward.

Sponsor: Sav.com domain auctions

The board of auDA, the group that oversees the .au namespace, just voted to make a sweeping change to registration rules for .com.au domains. It could mean a million or more domains lose their eligibility in a namespace of 3.3 million.

On today's show, Erhan Karabardak, a former auDA board member and IP attorney, joins me. He was one of the seven people on the panel that came up with the recommended rule change, and one of three who voted against it.

Erhan explains what happened and what it means for domain registrants.

Also: Verisign pricing lawsuit, Aruba and ShortDot new TLD plans, IONOS layoffs, drop time changes

Sponsor: Namecheap

Verisign is introducing .web this year, but the idea for the domain dates back more than three decades. Today's guest was there at the beginning.

Chris Ambler, Director of Domains for Registered Agents, Inc., discusses the long and winding history of .web and his role in proposing the domain years ago.

Nah, he's not bitter at all about not getting the domain.

Even though Chris isn't involved with Verisign's .web, he is participating in this year's round of new top level domain expansion. Registered Agents, Inc. applied for six domains, including .epic, .identity, .mark, .private, .registeredagent, and .verified.

Chris explains the thinking behind these strings, updates listeners on domain registrar Epik, and discusses why the company decided to build its own Registry Service Provider, Astronym Registry.

Sponsor: Sell your domains with Sav.com domain landers

Two-thirds of the year is in the books, and what a year it has been. Technology is changing quickly, and this is impacting the domain business.

On today's show, I discuss my domain results so far this year and dig into some of the changes I'm making to my investing. I also discuss how I'm using the GoDaddy Auctions API to make bidding easier.

Also: .Net prices, GoValue, Radix, Unstoppable [Domains], D3, and more

Sponsor: Sav.com backorders

.AI is hot, but what do business owners think about them? On this show, I speak with two business owners who switched their businesses to .ai domains. One started with a .so and quickly realized the extension's limitations. The other started on a .com domain that ended up pigeonholing this business.

First, I chat with Felix Ingla of Pedra. He launched his business on a .so domain and immediately ran into problems. He knew he needed to choose a different domain, and considered getPedra.com, which he could have hand registered. But 'get' works best as a prefix for English speakers, and his primary customers are in Spain and Germany. He ended up getting Pedra.ai.

Next, I speak with Angeli Angelos of Swipe. When his company first launched its product, it went with the name Post Protect, and that ended up limiting its ambitions. So he looked for a broader name and landed on Swipe. He discusses buying the domain swipe.ai, and how lease-to-own made it possible.

Also: Top level domain applications and more top level domain applications

Sponsor: Spaceship

The deadline to apply for a top level domain with ICANN was last Wednesday, and one company went big. Really big.

Link Freedom Group (LFG), a company associated with the team behind .link, followed through on its plans to apply for around 200 strings.

On today's show, LFG CEO Vaughn Liley talks about the thought process the company went through when selecting domains, the impact of the recent web3 integration report, and what he expects to happen in the coming months.

Also: 1,600 applications, GoDaddy Auctions API, Web 3 integration report, ENS

Sponsor: Sav.com domain transfers

Last year NamesCon moved to Miami for its first conference under new ownership. There were a lot of cool changes to the conference…as well as some things that could be improved.

Today, I'm joined by Anthony Pomball, managing director of NamesCon and CloudFest Americas, and Christian Dawson, Executive Director of i2Coalition.

Anthony discusses changes coming to this year's NamesCon, and many of them will be welcomed.

Christian is leading a revamped content strategy for the event, and he discusses some of the speakers and sessions at NamesCon 2026. It won't be the same old speakers on stage: there will be a lot of new faces this year.

NamesCon website

Also: University of Miami, Tucows, Porkbun

Sponsor: Spaceship