Unstopped Domains abandons ICANN plan because Web3 domain name sales fell short of expectations

Unstopped Domains has abandoned plans to apply for ICANN approval for multiple of its original Web3 domain name extensions and has begun refunds to customers who purchased domain names after the company committed to applying for the 2026 round.

Summary

Unstopped Domains has not submitted ICANN applications for multiple original Web3 extensions and has begun refunds to affected customers. Founder Matthew Gould said ICANN's compliance, application and bidding costs were higher than the company expected to receive sales from these domain names. The shift comes just six months after Unstoppable committed to applying for extensions such as.crypto,.wallet,.NFT,.Bitcoin, and.DAO. Existing Web3 domain names will continue to serve as an on-chain asset for crypto transactions, while Unstoppable will continue to provide ICANN application support to other partners.

Matthew Gould, founder of Unstoppable Domains, said on August 26 that the company had not submitted its application for Web3 top-level domains because they determined that ICANN's compliance, application and potential bidding costs would exceed the expected sales of these domains. The decision reversed a promise made just six months ago. On February 17, Unstoppable said it planned to apply for ICANN recognition for original extensions such as.ZIL,.Crypto,.Wallet,.NFT,.Bitcoin and.DAO. If approved, these domain names will eventually be able to operate through the traditional domain name system.

"The compliance, application and bidding costs required to include a Web3 domain name in the ICANN process are higher than the amount we expect to recover from the sale," Gould wrote. He said it would be more commercially reasonable to refund buyers affected by the company's ICANN program than to continue to advance applications.

Timing also makes it difficult for companies to change direction again. ICANN opened the 2026 new gTLDs application window on April 30 and closed submission at 23:59 UTC on August 12. A total of more than 1600 initial applications were received. Evaluation fees usually need to be paid before August 19, and "Disclosure Day" will publish strings that have passed administrative verification within nine weeks of the application window closing.

Unstoppable Domains refunds for missing ICANN application

According to Gould, customers have received notification of the decision via email. He said the company had not submitted an application and was refunding the application based on the terms communicated to users within the previous 24 hours. His statement was not accompanied by a complete public list of affected extensions or detailed refund terms. Some holders said they received domain name information related to the process on August 25.

This change also comes amid years when ICANN compatibility has been a selling point for Unstoppable's multiple Web3 naming products. It was previously reported that in June 2024, Unstoppable and Blockchain.com plan to register the.blockchain extension through ICANN. If the domain name is approved, it will be available for both traditional websites and blockchain applications. Under the plan,.blockchain holders will receive standard DNS capabilities, including website resolution and email, while retaining blockchain-based uses such as human-readable encrypted addresses.

Similar plans also involve other collaborations. Reddit's r/CryptoCurrency community has partnered with Unstoppable to launch the.MOON Web3 domain name, targeting approximately 8.8 million users, providing a name that can be used as an on-chain identifier and used in hundreds of blockchain applications and wallets. Unstoppable has also worked with Brave on blockchain domain names. The browser has launched a.brave chain domain name for its more than 85 million users. The two companies have discussed using ICANN to ultimately enable.brave addresses to be interoperable between the browser and the blockchain network.

Web3 domain name sales fail to cover costs

Gould linked the latest decision to naming product requirements for Web3 only, saying sales data does not support the inclusion of multiple common extensions into the ICANN process. "I think many people are overestimating the Web3 market since the 2021 crypto NFT bubble. The market is small and very niche,"he wrote, adding that Unstopable believes that the market cannot support multiple gTLD applications in the current round. According to Gould, the company made the decision based on its own sales data rather than expectations for future demand.

Public revenue data from the Ethereum domain name service also shows that registration revenue is well below the level seen in the 2021 and 2022 crypto market cycles. ENS generated approximately $315,000 in registration and renewal revenue during the most recent 30-day period and approximately $4.04 million in the past 12 months. Cumulative expenses since 2019 are approximately $112.5 million, while its strongest quarter (second quarter 2022) generated approximately $20.6 million.

Prior to this latest decision, Unstoppable has withdrawn multiple partner extensions from possible ICANN applications. Dozens of partner strings were listed in its support materials, and its operators chose not to proceed, resulting in refund windows in September and December 2025 and between February 16 and March 2, 2026. Previous decisions involved extensions include.pengu,.pudgy,.sonic, and.ltc. Some of them were initially promoted with plans to eventually apply for ICANN recognition, including.AGI, developed jointly with the 0G Foundation.

The company's roots in the blockchain naming field go back many years. In 2019, Unstoppable prepared to auction off the.zil blockchain domain name under its early user-owned named asset model, after which.crypto and more extensions became part of its product line.

Domain holders seek broader refunds

Some customers are currently debating which purchases qualify for refunds, arguing that they are retaining the domain because Unstoppable has said it will seek ICANN approval. One holder who posted under the name 00.x called the shift a "complete betrayal of the vision promoted for years" and called for refunds for all Unstoppable domains that would not enter the ICANN process. The holder later told Gould that offers for some domain names had been rejected due to expectations about the ICANN process.

Jeffrey Peterson also asked if buyers who purchased domain names as early as 2021 would also receive refunds. Another holder who uses the fastfwd.crypto name called for refunds for all extensions that Unstoppable decided not to submit, arguing that customers could not correctly evaluate previous refund offers until they checked which applications the company had finally submitted.

Gould said the decision would not remove the blockchain assets themselves. Existing Web3 domain names will continue to run on-chain and can be used for cryptographic transactions under current capabilities. "The Web3 domain name will continue to exist as an on-chain asset for crypto transactions," he wrote.

Unstoppable is still processing ICANN applications for partners

Although its own original extension did not move forward, Unstoppable still participated in the ICANN process as a service provider to other organizations. On August 18, Gould said the company was working with Telegram to process its.gram top-level domain application. Unstoppable also stated in 2024 that after obtaining ICANN Registrar certification, it is supporting more than 19 Web3 companies in preparing for the 2026 round.

By March, Gould said that traditional DNS domain names had accounted for more than 90% of the company's business, while Web3-only domain names were closely related to the encryption boom in 2021 and had not achieved mainstream applications. Changes around the company have also emerged in other places. Unstoppable's February page on Web3 refunds now redirects users to the login interface, while unstoppabledomains.com redirects to unstoppable.ai. Its X Platform Profile currently describes the business as "an agent workspace and IDE that keeps the team cutting-edge."

The Ethereum domain name service takes a different path in the 2026 ICANN round. ENS token holders approved the restructured ENS Foundation on August 11, authorizing it to seek recognition and management rights for the.ens top-level domain. ENS did not apply for.eth because ICANN reserves the three-letter string as an ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code. ENS Labs said its.ens application is designed to protect the ENS brand and that any final authorization will not be achieved until 2028.

The two naming companies have previously had disputes over intellectual property issues in the field of blockchain domain names. ENS challenged Unstoppable in 2023 to disclose patents involving blockchain naming technology, continuing a dispute between the two industry's oldest Web3 domain name providers.