The Journal
Notes from the desk on onchain namespaces, valuation, brand protection and clean closings. Written by the people who run the files.
Onchain top-level domains: the complete guide
What a TLD is, who holds it, what it is for, where its limits are, and how it changes hands.
Buying a TLD without revealing the buyer
A buyer can stay unnamed through a negotiation. The public record is another matter, and it is decided by the wallet you choose before the first note goes out.
From application to delegation: the path of a gTLD
Passing evaluation does not put a string on the internet. Here is the road that follows, stage by stage, and what an onchain TLD of the same string is doing meanwhile.
Onchain names in a company acquisition: the IP checklist
A target can hold an onchain name that no trademark schedule or registrar report shows. Here is what to ask, what to verify yourself and what to write into the deal papers.
Pricing the names under your TLD
A price list decides who registers under your TLD long before it decides what you earn. Here is how to build one you can explain to any registrant.
Royalty program terms when a TLD changes hands
Two TLDs that look identical on the public record can carry different royalty terms. Here is how to find out which ones apply before closing, and who should ask.
Licensing a TLD instead of selling it
A holder who will not sell can still let someone else build on a TLD. The license is a contract, the token stays put, and every name is issued by the holder on instruction.
Onchain names in a corporate domain portfolio
Your register was built for domains that expire and sit in a registrar account. An onchain name has neither, so the entry needs different columns.
Terms of use for names issued under your TLD
The document a registrant accepts is the only place where your rules for a name become a commitment. Here is what belongs in it, clause by clause, and what to leave out.
The reserved list: names to hold back before launch
Four families of names should not be available on opening day. Here is how to find them, who approves the list, and the routes by which a name leaves it.
Warranties a buyer should ask a TLD seller for
A public record shows which wallet holds a TLD. It does not show what the seller promised to someone else. That gap is where warranties do their work.
Writing an internal policy for onchain names
Most organizations meet onchain names through an employee who registered one on a personal wallet. Here is the internal rule that prevents that, clause by clause.
Email and onchain names: what does not work yet
Internet mail looks for its destination in the DNS, and an onchain name is not there. A plain account of the limit, and of the division of work that holds up.
Getting a TLD acquisition through procurement
The business case is agreed, then the purchasing system asks the seller for a supplier number. A file-by-file route through the four functions that must sign.
How a corporate treasury pays for an onchain TLD
Your company has agreed to buy a TLD and the price must be paid onchain. Here is how a treasury team that has never done it gets from budget to escrow under its normal controls.
Licensees, franchisees and names under your TLD
A name under your TLD tells the public that a third party belongs to your network. Decide who gets one, on what terms, and how it ends before you issue the first.
What an earlier creation date is worth
An early creation date is a fact about your TLD, not a title to the string. Here is how to give it the weight it deserves in a valuation, and no more.
Writing a teaser for a TLD without naming it
The first document a possible buyer reads describes the TLD and leaves out its name. Here is how to write that page so it is useful and still gives nothing away.
An investment thesis for onchain TLDs
Written the way an analyst would write it for an investment committee: the case, the case against, and the conditions under which the position should be closed.