Our rules of engagement are the product.
Anyone can send an email about a name. What a holder, a general counsel or a fund actually buys from Hush Partners is a set of rules that hold under pressure. Here they are, in writing, for clients and counterparties alike.
We never publish a TLD, a client or a counterparty.
No listings, no teasers, no "recently closed" posts naming a TLD, no client logos. Not before a file, not during, not after it closes.
WhyA TLD that has been seen loses value, and an organization that has been named loses trust in whoever named it.
No invented urgency.
Terms carry a validity date when there is one. A trademark TLD gets a first right of conversation when that window is real. A market TLD has a shortlist when the shortlist exists, and we tell you its real size. Each of these is stated only when true.
WhyFake deadlines work once. Then every date we give is discounted, including the real ones.
Nothing is issued under a TLD while it is under discussion.
From the first note to closing, no subnames are created under the TLD, by the holder or by anyone acting for them. Names issued before the file opened are disclosed in the private room.
WhyThe buyer must receive exactly the namespace that was described, and nothing that could be read as pressure.
A clear no ends the approach.
If the organization or holder says no, we stop. No follow-ups dressed as check-ins, no second note to a different department, no escalation over someone's head.
WhyRespecting a no is what makes the next yes possible, sometimes from the same people, on their own timing.
Funds and TLD move together, or nothing moves.
Every transfer settles through marketplace escrow, on a venue both sides accept. Nobody sends money on trust and nobody hands over a TLD on a promise. See escrow and transfer.
WhyA quiet deal still needs a hard close. Escrow removes the one moment where either side is exposed.
One named partner per file.
From first note to closing, one partner runs the file and answers for it. You learn their first name privately. It never appears on the public site.
WhyConfidential files leak at handovers. One person, one thread, no relay.
NDA on both sides.
Our standard NDA binds the client, the counterparty and us by default, from the first message and after closing. Nobody has to ask for it, and counsel can read it before writing to us.
WhySilence has to bind everyone at the table, including us.
Referral splits are paid onchain at closing.
Lawyers, IP counsel and wealth advisers who introduce a file are paid through an onchain split at closing via shaka.deal. Terms are agreed before the introduction. See for advisors.
WhyPaid at the same moment as the deal, on a public rail, with nothing left to chase or reconcile.
We say who we act for.
Every counterparty knows which side Hush Partners represents on the file. The identity behind that side stays private until the client decides otherwise. The role itself is never hidden.
WhyAnonymity protects a client. Ambiguity about our role would only protect us.
No exclusivity imposed on holders.
Holders are free to keep other options open. We accept third-party mandates and work alongside another intermediary when it serves the holder.
WhyIf our process is better, it does not need a lock-in clause.
What we refuse.
Some requests come with a good fee attached. We decline them anyway, and we say so on the first call.
- Publishing lists of TLDs, holders or organizations, in any format, anywhere
- Deadlines, rival bidders or shortlists that do not exist
- Pressure on individual holders, their families or their employers
- Issuing subnames under a TLD that is under discussion, for anyone
- Misrepresenting who we act for, or pretending to act for no one
- Contacting marketing or social teams about a trademark TLD
- Implying a legal threat. Rights in a name are for counsel to assess
- Taking a fee from both sides of the same file
- Approaching anyone who has already given a clear no
- Transfers outside escrow, whoever asks and however well we know them
Hold us to it.
If you are a client, a counterparty or an adviser and you believe any file broke one of these rules, tell us through the contact form with the reference. It is reviewed outside the file, and you get a written answer.