Registries, registrars, TLD policy, aftermarket and ICANN.
A UK apparel seller filed a UDRP against LoyalSoldiers.com after rejecting a $1,000 counteroffer, only to lose the case and be found guilty of reverse domain name hijacking by WIPO.
Telegram's t.me domain was suspended after U.S. sanctions, while Verisign secured .web after a decade-long delay. The U.S. also sued to seize Egypt.com, and AI startups clashed over trademark rights in court.
A new DNS specification allows domain owners to publish a standardized record indicating willingness to sell, bypassing brokers. Adoption depends on registrar support, with incentives misaligned for some market participants.
Montenegro's government has initiated steps to nationalize the .me country-code top-level domain, currently managed by a joint venture led by GoDaddy and Identity Digital, aiming to redirect revenue and strengthen digital sovereignty.
ICANN's DNSSEC and Security Workshop at its 87th meeting invites industry professionals to present on DNS security, DNSSEC deployment, and routing security topics.
OpusDNS and Fruits.co completed their first joint domain transaction, selling the Source.ai domain for $200,000, demonstrating the potential of their recent merger in the aftermarket space.
Verisign and ICANN report near-universal adoption of the new root zone Key Signing Key, with a final cutover scheduled for 11 October 2026. Operators are advised to verify their resolver configurations now.
Ireland’s .ie top-level domain has been officially redelegated to IE Domain Registry, ending a decades-long arrangement with University College Dublin. The move consolidates operational control under the entity that has managed the registry since 2000.
The second quarter of 2026 saw 401.6 million domain name registrations across all TLDs, marking a 2.3% increase from the previous quarter and an 8.1% year-over-year rise, according to DNIB.com's latest report.
Verisign posted record Q2 growth in .com domains, lifted annual revenue forecasts, and outlined plans for the long-delayed .web TLD launch, including a matching-domain period for existing .com holders.
Freenom, the registry behind .tk and other ccTLDs, has relaunched domain registration services after a 2024 settlement with Meta. The company now charges for domains, abandoning its controversial free model linked to widespread abuse.
APNIC Chief Scientist Geoff Huston reports that 80% of observed DNS queries are duplicates, revealing resolver behavior and transport reliability patterns across 30 million daily endpoints.
OpusDNS has eliminated monthly subscription tiers and refunded all fees paid in 2026, replacing its model with negotiable pricing and transfer-in promotions through September.
Cloudflare has made Internal DNS generally available, allowing enterprises to manage public and private DNS on a unified global network with shared policy control and visibility.
Afnic has been designated as the registry operator for all French overseas top-level domains, including .gf, .gp, and .mq, following a government tender. The transition for three extensions is set to complete by the end of 2026, with new naming rules already in effect.
Domain marketplace Atom has introduced DomainAttest, an open protocol designed to streamline domain ownership verification by allowing sellers to authenticate via registrar login rather than DNS records.
GoDaddy has released a public beta of its Developer Platform, featuring a v3 Domains API designed for AI agents. The API includes built-in safeguards such as scoped authentication, idempotency keys, and recorded consent objects to prevent unauthorized spending or duplicate transactions.
Vint Cerf, co-creator of TCP/IP, has joined Identity Digital’s Innovation Labs Advisory Board to help develop a DNS-based standard for identifying AI agents, known as DNSid.
Telegram’s t.me domain, which powers the messaging platform’s short links, was placed on serverHold status by its registrar GoDaddy on 13 July 2026, rendering the domain unresolvable. No public explanation has been provided by Telegram, GoDaddy, or the .me registry.
Domain applicants have submitted 365 String Interest Reports to ICANN's Early Warning platform, covering 313 unique TLD strings with 41 overlaps, as the application deadline approaches next month.