The Lowdown

Welcome to the 
The Lowdown from 
DN Journal - your source for notable news and information from all corners of the global domain name industry! 

The Lowdown is compiled by DN Journal Editor & Publisher 
Ron Jackson.

NamesCon Global in Miami Just One Week Away: Pre-Bidding Already Open for ROTD Live & Online Domain Auction

It has been a long wait since the last edition of NamesCon Global. That's because after staging the 2024 show in June last year, the event moved to November dates for the 2025 event coming up next week (November 5 & 6) in Miami. Though it has been a 17-month break the change made it possible for NamesCon to host the big show in one of the world's most glamorous cities and do it at a time of year when people from all over the globe flock to Florida where summer never ends.

Of course, when it is time for NamesCon that means it's also time for another big live and online domain & digital asset auction from RightOfTheDot.com (ROTD). The live auction in Miami will run from

from 4:00pm-6:30pm U.S EST on Wednesday, November 5 and will also be simulcast to bidders worldwide. That will make the ROTD catalog of premium dot-com brands, trending AI-focused domains, geo names, and emerging-economy digital assets available to anyone with an Internet connection. 

With hundreds of lots in the catalog, Pre-bidding is open now (you can register here). On November 5 at 4:00pm, a handpicked selection of lots will move to the live in-person auction in Miami, conducted by World-Champion auctioneer Wayne Wheat. Online bidding will remain open so you can participate from anywhere. After the live auction ends, remaining lots will move into a timed online format beginning 24 hours after the live auction ends, giving bidders another opportunity to acquire premium assets before the final close.

If you haven't already gotten a ticket for NamesCon Global you can register here and can get 20% off by using the "DNJ20" discount code that NamesCon provided for our readers. If you are coming to  Miami we will look forward to seeing you there. If you can't make it, we will have all of the photos and highlights for you in a new Cover Story that will be published after we return. 

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The Art of Turning a New TLD Into a Global Community: Jeff Sass's October Odyssey for .ART Shows What it Takes - You're Either All In Or You're Out of Luck 

New top level domains (TLDs) arrived in en masse over a decade ago when ICANN added more than 1,000 extensions to the Internet. It is hard for anyone or anything to stand out in a crowd like that, but a handful have made it happen. Invariably, those are the ones that spent heavily in time, money and resources to build a global community around their TLDs. .ART has been a prime example of that and perhaps never more so than this month. 

Given the registry's dizzying schedule of October events, I hope no one has been trying to track .ART CMO Jeff Sass's movements around the globe. If you were, your GPS device has likely blown up by now. This very day (Monday, Oct. 27) Jeff is in Dublin, Ireland, taking part in a special exhibition associated with the ICANN 84 Meeting underway there. On Friday (October 24) he was busy with .ART's 2nd Annual International .ARTist Day Online Conference and right before that he was sharing his love of art and .ART with fellow attendees at the Domain Days Dubai conference in the UAE October 22 & 23. The week before that he was in London where .ART announced the two winners of their Digital Innovation in Arts & Culture Award at a Gala ceremony hosted by GP Bullhound Allstars on October 16th. The week before that he was in Portland, Oregon for American Art Therapy Association conference where .ART was exhibiting October 10th.

OK, I'm sure you're starting to get the picture. When you see what it takes to turn a new TLD into an institution, I wouldn't blame those who are thinking about applying for a new TLD if they are having second thoughts! I'm not sure how Jeff kept up with all of that as I certainly couldn't, but we will try to rectify that right now.

Let's start with that Art Therapy event as that is an important story in its own right. .ART Founder Ulvi Kasimov has been a tireless advocate for the healing power of art. Ulvi noted that "art therapy takes concepts from psychology and counseling and expands on them, forming a unique field of mental health treatment in itself. It’s time to remember that art has a therapeutic effect and start sharing art, its practices, and impressions to begin the process of global healing and recovery.” The .ART registry is a member of the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) and provided support for their annual conference as a sponsor, presenter, and exhibitor. 

The next week it was on to London where two innovators,  Artcrush and WHATCLASS, were named winners of the 2025 Digital Innovation in Arts & Culture Award for their work in reshaping public art and creative education through technology. Artcrush is a Belgian startup that transforms unused digital billboards into the world’s largest open-air gallery, creating a new cultural economy that connects artists, brands, and millions of viewers through urban space. UK-based WHATCLASS is revolutionizing music and cultural education by turning artists into teachers and fans into co-creators. As Spotify’s global education partner and backed by ABRSM, WHATCLASS blends streaming culture with accredited, artist-led learning.

Mathieu France (CEO of Artcrush), Ulvi Kasimov (Founder of .ART Registry) and Chairman of the Judging Jury Dean Phelus (Editor in Chief of Museum Magazine and Senior Director of Special Projects at the American Alliance of Museums), at the 2025 GP Bullhound Allstars Gala in London.

Now, about that International .ARTist Day Online Conference that was held Friday (October 24). That event was created to support the following day's International Artist Day (IAD) celebration. For over 20 years IAD has been celebrated on October 25th (Pablo Picasso's birthday). For the free online conference .ART presented four excellent panels of artists and experts from various facets of the art world, including many who use a .ART domain. If you missed the live event you can watch a YouTube replay here.  While the conference was running .ART also released this year's edition of the .ART ODYSSEY publication, which this year is focused on HEALING and the healing power of Art. .ART ODYSSEY: HEALING is available now on Amazon.

After all of that you might think Jeff's travels on behalf of .ART would be over for now. That would be wrong, of course! Next week it's on to Miami, Florida and the NamesCon Global conference. It should be easy to spot Jeff - he'll be the guy with a large cup of coffee in each hand and most of the leather worn off the bottom of his shoes. Still, the old saying is true - when you love what you do, you never work a day in your life - and Jeff obviously has deep affection for art and .ART domains.

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Domain Days Dubai Concludes 2025 Conference With News of a Name Change and the Dates to Save for the 2026 Event

Editor's Note: Our full review of the 2025 Domain Days Dubai conference (DDD) has now been published with photos and highlight from every sessions. With additional information now in hand about what's next for this rapidly growing event, this post has been updated..

The curtain came down on the the 3rd annual Domain Days Dubai conference Thursday night (October 23) with a yacht tour of the city's scenic harbor capping off the well received event. While Founder 

Munir Badr launched the show to put Dubai and the Middle East/Africa region in the spotlight, it has attracted attendees from around the globe from the start. With a record number of international attendees this year, that has opened the possibility of seeing Domain Days events in other locations in addition to Dubai. So, expect to see the brands Domain Days and Domain Days Dubai used interchangeably in the years ahead (the DDD website is at DomainDays.com).

In another change that recognizes the number of events and commitments that people in the industry have to fit into limited calendar space - and all of the planning that goes into that - Munir gave them a head start by announcing that next year's edition of Domain Days will be held October 14-15, 2026. As for the just concluded 2025 extravaganza in the UAE metropolis, we are planning a complete conference review when the professional photos come in. In the meantime, here are some scenes captured by attendees and posted on social media:

Above & Below: Domain Days Founder & Curator Munir Badr welcomes a full house to the 3rd annual edition of the event at the Marriott Resort Palm Jumeirah October 22. (Photos courtesy of Domain Summit Founder Helmuts Meskonis, seen at far right in the photo below).

Above: The Program Director for Domain Days, Leonid Todorov, followed Munir onstage to give attendees a rundown on what was in store for them over the next two days.

Below: The business sessions at Domain Days featured leading industry experts from around the world. One especially popular panel discussion on Mastering the Art of Investing & Sales featured (left to right) Darpan Munjal (Atom.com), Braden Pollock (Legal Brand Marketing), Mark Ghoriafi (Sedo's "Mr. Premium) and Jack Dai (DN.com).

Above: With Domain Days being held in the United Arab Emirates, there was a lot of interest in the nation's ccTLD - .ae. The audience got a comprehensive inside view of the extension in a Keynote presented by Mohammad Ismail Alfalasi (Manager, Digital Resources Management, TDRA).

Below: Much of the innovation in the tech world is coming from Dubai. Marwan AlZarouni (CEO of AI for Dubai's Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) as well as CEO of Dubai Blockchain Center) provided some great insight into what has propelled the city into a global leadership role.

Above: The owner of the first .com domain registered on the Internet (Symbolics.com),  Aron Meystedt (at right in this picture with DN.com's Jack Dai), was also a featured speaker at Domain Days. Symbolics.com is celebrating its 40th birthday since being registered in 1985!

Below: Also on hand to present CEO Insights That Rhyme With Success were (left to right): Lukasz Gawlor (WebHosting.today), Elias Rendon-Benger (InterNetX), Lars Jensen (ShortDot SA) and Michael Osterloh (HostAfrica).

Above: Domains Days 2025 came to a spectacular close with a yacht tour along the Dubai skyline Thursday night (October 23).  Domain Days Founder Munir Badr (3rd from left) is with some of the guests admiring the view on a perfect evening in the UAE.

More to come soon when we'll take a deeper dive into Domain Days.

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Domain Days Dubai Set to Begin With Digital Asset Auction Among Wednesday's Opening Day Highlights

The 2025 Domain Days Dubai (DDD) conference will be held Wednesday and Thursday (October 22 & 23) at the Marriott Resort Palm Jumeirah. You can see our preview of the 3rd annual event here. One thing we haven't talked about yet is the innovative Bid-To-Earn Digital Asset Auction that RightOfTheDot.com is conducting in association with the event. The auction is a global online event that anyone can participate in. Bidding opened October 16 but lots won't begin closing until the end of the opening business day at DDD

Wednesday. Since the time in Dubai is 8 hours later than U.S. Eastern Daylight time (where we are located), that means you will need to get your bids in before 10:30AM U.S. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 22.  

The auction features a curated portfolio of 166 premium digital assets headlined by Tokens.com, one of the most valuable and culturally relevant digital assets currently on the market. The name represents the foundation of the global crypto economy, a single word recognized across blockchain, fintech, gaming, and tokenized real estate and gold sectors. Another auction headliner is Solutions.crypto, a premium Web3 identity that aligns with decentralized branding and blockchain utility. Other standouts in the catalog include Amman.com - Arab.x - Dubai.jobs - Developing.ae - Somalia.com - Design.crypto – Mint.nft –  Server.ai –  Capetown.com –  UAE.jobs and Dubai.net to name just a few.

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Ammar Kubba Rings Up Record-Breaking $750,000 Sale of Wisdom.ai With Grit Brokerage Helping Buyer Acquire Dream Domain  

Over the past 20 years Ammar Kubba has put together a stunning string of successful ventures and investments. That hot streak continues with his latest landmark sale - Wisdom.ai at $750,000, making it the highest publicly reported .ai sale on record, topping the $700,000 paid for You.ai in 2023. 

The buyer is an  innovative company founded by experts in AI, data analytics, and enterprise software. They called on Brian Harbin and his team at Grit Brokerage to help them acquire the domain. While they gave him a big budget to work and Brian and Ammar had already known each other for years, the acquisition was

Image from Bigstock

no slam dunk because the  domain was one Ammar had a strong personal attachment to. In fact Brian told me that he and Maureen Sullivan at Grit spent two years working with the buyer before finally closing a deal.  

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Internet Commerce Association Welcomes New Platinum Member Squarespace & Invites Nominations for 2026 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award and ICA Trailblazer Award

The Internet Commerce Association (ICA), the non-profit organization that fights to protect domain owner's rights, continues to attract steadfast support for its mission from some of the most important players in the domain and Internet industries. The latest to line up alongside the ICA as a top tier Platinum Member is global tech leader Squarespace. The company is known around the world for its suite of services, including AI website builders and domain registrations, that have made it easier for their 13 million users to create a powerful online presence. As one of the top five registrars in the world and the support of a diverse and vital community of entrepreneurs, creators, and small businesses, Squarespace will be an invaluable addition to the ICA.

In addition to providing financial support through their Platinum membership, Squarespace is going to share the workload too with their Head of Domains & Applications and Senior VP Kevin Doerr joining the ICA's Board of Directors. Doerr has extensive leadership experience with iconic technology companies including GoDaddy, Microsoft and Yahoo. ICA General Counsel Zak Muscovitch noted, "Kevin's deep, holistic view of the industry will be critical in guiding the ICA’s strategic initiatives and policy positions. The ICA Board of Directors and its members extend a warm welcome to the entire Squarespace team and to Kevin Doerr. We look forward to a close collaboration to advance the interests of all domain registrants worldwide."

On another front, the ICA has opened nominations for their two prestigious annual awards - The 2026 Lonnie Borck Memorial Award and the 2026 ICA Trailblazer Award.

Kevin Doerr
Senior VP, Head of Domains & Applications
Squarespace

The two awards celebrate different but equally important contributions to the industry and the ICA wants everyone's help in choosing them - not just members. So, anyone can nominate an individual or company that they believe deserves recognition. Information on each award is below, along with a link to make a nomination. Keep the deadline in mind - nominations will close on November 2, 2025.

The Lonnie Borck Memorial Award honors individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to fostering a sense of community within the domain name industry. The previous winners of the award that was established in 2017 are:

The ICA Trailblazer Award was launched last year to recognize companies or individuals who have significantly advanced the domain name industry through innovative products or services with a lasting impact. The inaugural award was presented to Atom.com and its founder Darpan Munjal whose product innovations have helped shape domain investing.

Submit a nomination for the ICA Trailblazer Award

After nominations close, the winner of each award will be determined by a vote of ICA members and both awards will be presented at the ICA's 2026 Annual Member Meeting that will be held in Las Vegas, January 15-17, 2026.

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With NamesCon Global in Miami Just Weeks Away Industry Pioneer Mike Mann Is Ready to Ruffle Some Feathers

The 2025 NamesCon Global conference is coming up fast. The big show will be held in Miami for the first time November 5 & 6 at the Ice Palace. I would recommend getting into town by November 4th as they will have an official Welcome Party that will be open to all registrants that evening from 7-10pm, giving you a great chance to get in some valuable early networking time. Also, keep in mind that prices go up the closer you get to the event. In this case, if you want to beat the next increase that will go into

effect Friday night (October 3) at midnight, you will need to register before then (you can get 20% off by using the "DNJ20" discount code that NamesCon provided for our readers). 

After running the past four years in Austin, Texas, NamesCon decided to change things up with a trip to South Florida, a region that many regard as the cradle of the domain investing because so many industry pioneers were (and continue to be) based there. Most of them are still on the scene and you will see them on stage, in the halls and at the social events. A prime example will be Mike Mann, the builder of a premium domain portfolio that contains hundreds of thousands of domains, as well as the founder of what became a wildly successful aftermarket sales platform in BuyDomains.com that he sold in 2005 for a price believed to be around the $80 million mark. He is now the Founder & CEO of DomainMarket.com. 

Mike will be part of a powerful twin-bill that NamesCon has set up to start this year's conference off with a bang. The first day of business (November 5) will begin with a 9:10am Keynote from Hilco Digital Assets Managing Director and super broker Andrew Miller about High-Stakes Domains: A Look Inside the World's Most Valuable Digital Assets. Then at 10, in the show's first panel discussion, Mike will join fellow investing all-stars Braden Pollock and Josh Reason to provide advice on Mastering Domain Investing - Building, Pricing & Selling a Profitable Portfolio.

DNJournal: Before someone starts investing in domains they have to learn what makes specific domains more valuable than others to have any chance at all to succeed. Today there is a ton of information and opinions on that topic out there but as one of the original pioneers you had to figure everything out for yourself. How did you determine what you should be acquiring?

Mike Mann: I compiled an enormous expanding data set applied to each domain; a lot of it is proprietary data that nobody else has or has even thought of. And we have special ways of acquiring and organizing the data; and ways to study that data and apply our algorithms to come up with the value of a domain, i.e., it’s appraisal; then we compare the value of the name to its for-sale price; and if there is a huge margin in our favor we buy it. We have super cool and effective user interfaces to make it all work together relatively easily; including on auctions. But it requires my personal expertise to operate it all profitably (until I train someone else). It is very difficult and time consuming to leverage the data and surrounding technologies effectively despite the easy interfaces. For a novice they should use the common tools and sets of data that many domainers use, and work hard to become the best at making sense of it all. The main rule is to stick with .Com or else the risk is too high. Some experts might know how to exploit alternate TLD domains to their advantage but it is hard to believe novices would succeed.

Mike Mann speaking at the 2023 NamesCon Global conference in Austin, Texas.

DNJournal:The domain environment today is much different than it was back then when the investment choices were just .com, .net and .org. Today, there are over 1500 TLDs available. How, if at all, do you think that has changed the picture for investors?

Mike Mann: It makes all of the legacy TLDs less valuable, diluted; except .Com, which is always the elite extension, flight to quality. All of the Fortune 500 best companies and marketing professionals use .Com. Almost all of the names in the other TLDs are worthless except some .co, .ai and .io; and the old .org and .net. I say almost because there are some exceptional names in each TLD and possibly some exceptional TLDs overall, mixed with some fraud in some of them. If 2% are exceptional then that leaves 1470 essentially doomed TLDs. Some charge outrageous fees so may survive with few users. But the main point is they just confuse people online who often think they are spam and hackers using them, or the people type them in wrong and end up at the .Com I own. It makes no sense for a serious company concerned about building a sustainable brand, and online market presence to use alt TLDs. For a hobbyist I guess it could be whimsical and interesting, but even small companies can find a great .Com for cheap, and should do so instead of losing money experimenting. 

DNJournal: While you have always been a .com guy, BuyDomains had an extraordinary collection of .net and .org keyword domains too. What do you think about their respective merits today?

Mike Mann: They lost a lot of value due to dilution and confusion, but fortunately I still have the very best ones at DomainMarket.com. So, the ones that were worth $100,000 each a few years ago are now worth $33,000 for example. I also have the best little collection of .co domains. (a registry I helped start)  

DNJournal: I doubt there is anyone established in the domain industry who doesn’t know who Mike Mann is, but NamesCon always draws in new people who are curious about this business. There are a hundred good reasons but, why would you personally say those people should be sure to join the rest of us in the audience for your session with Braden and Josh?  

A big thank you to Mike for his time and a note for you if you're going to NamesCon as a newcomer - don't be shy! Mike and the many other South Florida domain OGs who will be there are always happy to meet people and answer questions. Many of them have been doing it for 30 years now, but their passion for domains burns as brightly today as it did when they began.

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Dynadot Brings Multi-Talented Domain Pro Yiqiu Tao On Board as Director of Sales for the Rapidly Growing Registrar & Marketplace

In 2002 Todd Han (who was profiled in our September 2023 Cover Story) started a new domain registrar, Dynadot, and spent the next several years doing every bit of the work involved by himself, using a small home office as his base. The company has grown astronomically since then but to this day Dynadot has still taken no money from investors and carries no debt! Todd took a slow, steady approach through the early years to build a rock solid foundation featuring low prices and an easy to use interface that made Dynadot a domain investor favorite along the way. Equally important was his ability to recruit a group of exceptionally talented people that has fueled a growth explosion for Dynadot over the past five years. 

In 2020 Dynadot had 2.5 million domains under management and 50 employees. Just five years later, the company now has over 7.5 million domains (making them one of the six biggest registrars in the world) and 150 employees around the globe. To help keep that momentum going, Dynadot has just added another star performer to its executive team by bringing multi-talented industry veteran Yiqiu Tao on board as Director of Sales. In that role Yiqiu will be responsible for driving sales across both their marketplace and brokerage services.

Yiqiu Tao
 Dynadot Director of Sales

What exactly do I mean when I describe Yiqiu as "multi-talented"? For starters, over the past five years, while serving as Country Manager China at Sedo, Yiqiu, who was educated in Germany and holds a Master of Science degree in Economics, closed so many domain sales that the dollar value on her ledger reached eight figures. Many of those were premium domains acquired by corporate buyers, including EZE.com, Collecting.com and Q.to name just a few. Then there is her ability to speak multiple languages fluently (Chinese, German and English), enabling her to work seamlessly with clients across Asia, Europe, and North America. That opened the door for her to collaborate with leading global brands and Chinese enterprises in technology, e-commerce, and finance, including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and Huawei. 

At Dynadot Yiqiu believes she has a suite of services that practically sells itself. "Dynadot offers one of the lowest brokerage fees in the industry (10%), along with secure escrow and multiple settlement options — including cryptocurrency and Alipay — ensuring smooth cross-border transactions," she noted. Yiqiu also dropped some news that will be of special interest to domain buyers and sellers. "Dynadot will officially launch its dedicated brokerage service in October," she told us. "That will allow us to better serve high-value clients worldwide. Backed by a growing multilingual team and strong industry partnerships — including a strategic collaboration we recently established with Alibaba Cloud — we are strengthening connections between Asia and the West."

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Domain Summit is Heading to Asia For Invitation-Only November 2025 Event in Hong Kong

In our review of the 2025 Domain Summit conference that was held in London earlier this month, we noted that the next step for the event's Founder, Helmuts Meskonis, would be to take the show on the road. While he had already taken Domain Summit "down the street" with a new 

venue for its 4th annual London event, the ultimate goal for Helmuts was to go global. The first step in that mission will be the previously announced February 2026 Domain Summit Africa conference in Nairobi. Helmuts also indicated he would like to stage a Domain Summit in the United States in 2027 but now, just three weeks after the latest show concluded, he has already set up a new overseas event for this year! That will be Domain Summit Asia, an event that will be held November 17 & 18, 2025 in Hong Kong.

While we've never seen anyone try to produce a top level domain conference with an advance notice of just two months, Helmuts already had some key people in his corner that are making this possible, led by DN.com Founder Jack Dai who partnered with Helmuts to pull it off. The conference will be held in a venue owned by a friend of Jack's, a hall at 88 Wing Lok Street that is well known for hosting art auctions in Hong Kong.

Helmuts Meskonis & Jack Dai at the 2025 Domain Summit in London where they agreed to
work together to produce the first Domain Summit Asia in Hong Kong Nov. 17 & 18, 2025.  

DotAsia CEO Edmon Chung is also playing an invaluable role as a speaker and supporter of Domain Summit Asia's outreach campaign. Another major player in the region's domain industry, Eric Yang, will serve as moderator. The added twist that will help make it work within the short time frame available is a different format for the initial Asia event. It will run as an invitation-only conference with the goal of having an exclusive 80-person gathering for registries, registrars, platforms, and investors (an invitation can be requested here: https://luma.com/j77apjqw). 

The opening day of Domain Summit Asia (November 17) will feature talks and sessions with industry experts, focusing on the Asian domain landscape and global opportunities. Day 2 will be devoted to a group walk through Hong Kong, blending networking with an authentic local experience. Additional agenda details can be seen here.

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.ART Announces Five Finalists for 2025 Digital Innovation in Arts & Culture Award

The .ART domain registry, in collaboration with GP Bullhound Allstars, has announced the  five finalists for the 2025 Digital Innovation in Arts & Culture Award (DIAC). These outstanding companies were recognized for leading the way in shaping how technology transforms art, culture and heritage. 

GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm that provides transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. The firm has 13 offices spread across the United States and Europe. 

The finalists, in alphabetical order, are:

Artcrush (Belgium) 
This company transforms public spaces into open-air galleries by turning city billboards into digital canvases - making art accessible to millions by bringing cultural experiences into everyday life. Artcrush CEO Mathieu France said, “Artcrush being named a finalist for the 2025 DIAC Award marks our first international recognition. In  just 3 years, we’ve deployed 15,000+ digital billboards across 15+ countries, showcasing outstanding art daily—a validation of both our global impact and the scalability of our model."  

Loupe Art (United States) 
The world’s first streaming platform for visual art, Loupe (loupe.art) turns screens into curated art environments across homes, hotels, hospitals, and public spaces, supporting artists through licensing and exposure. Loupe Art Curator Gabriella Silvagnoli said, "This recognition celebrates our mission of connecting global audiences with contemporary artists in new and meaningful ways. We're excited to continue pushing the boundaries of how art is experienced in homes, businesses, public spaces, and beyond."   

Peggy (Canada) 
A social art marketplace powered by AI authentication and resale royalties. Peggy (peggy.art) democratizes art collecting by ensuring transparency, equity, and accessibility for both artists and collectors worldwide. Peggy Co-founder & CEO Craig Follett said, "This is a profound honor that we share with our entire community. The recognition belongs to the incredible artists, galleries, and collectors on Peggy who are together building a more accessible and connected art world. Our technology and infrastructure exist for one reason: to empower this community and advance our shared vision of seeing art in every home. A heartfelt thank you to the Peggy team for their tireless work of the years, and to .ART for celebrating the community's collective achievements."  

SmartStamp (Switzerland) 
This ETH Zürich spin-off is developing a biometric authentication system for artworks. SmartStamp turns a smartphone into a tool for creating tamper-proof digital passports anchored in blockchain, ensuring secure provenance and compliance with EU standards. SmartStamp CCO Jonas Kastenhuber said, "This finalist nod is about turning provenance into something you can trust (in seconds). Less paperwork, more certainty and better art practice gives artworks a digital identity and intelligent archive to make admin of it easy and fun." 

WHATCLASS (United Kingdom) 
Revolutionizing music and cultural education by turning artists into teachers and fans into co-creators. Backed by ABRSM and major streaming partners, WHATCLASS blends AI-personalized learning with scalable cultural participation. WHATCLASS CEO Austen Smart noted, “WHATCLASS is creating the category-defining platform for arts education, where real human artists own their knowledge, earn from it, and fans learn directly from them. Being a DIAC finalist signals a new era of cultural accredited education, with a model designed to scale globally, just like streaming itself.”

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.HipHop Launches Equity Crowdfunding Campaign With DJ Madout as Lead Investor

The .HipHop domain registry has opened an equity crowdfunding campaign with a "Testing the Waters" phase on Wefunder. Cultural innovator DJ Madout signed on as Lead Investor for a campaign that invites investors and the global Hip Hop community to claim a stake in the ICANN approved registry that represents them on the Internet. DJ Madout is known for his dedication to amplifying Hip Hop culture around the globe. He got on board the funding campaign because he believe it presents a unique opportunity for artists, DJs, producers, entrepreneurs, and fans to own a piece of the digital real estate that .HipHop provides.

 DJ Madout said, "Hip Hop is more than music — it’s a movement, a culture, and a legacy. By supporting .HipHop, I’m ensuring the culture owns its digital foundation. This is an investment in the future of Hip Hop, for the community and ultimately by the community."

The .HipHop team, led by a cultural entrepreneur and domain industry veterans (including one of its earliest pioneers in Monte Cahn), that represent a combination of proven executive experience and roughly $600 million in lifetime domain sales. That team has made it their mission to empower creators, fans and businesses with the most culturally aligned and brandable web address.

DJ Madout

Through Wefunder, supporters can reserve investments starting at $250 and play a roll of their own in helping shape the future of Hip Hop online. 

The registry cited three primary reasons for why they believe .HipHop provides a unique investment opportunity:

• Cultural Ownership: Hip Hop DJs, artists and brands gain control over their online identities with domains like DJName.HipHop and ArtistName.HipHop.

• Proven Leadership: Members of the founding team have decades of experience in domain sales, marketing, and internet governance. 

• High-Growth Potential: With over 2 billion global Hip Hop fans, the .HipHop domain has significant untapped potential. 

The investment opportunity comes with this disclaimer:

We are "testing the waters" to gauge investor interest in an offering under Regulation Crowdfunding. No money or other consideration is being solicited, and if sent in response, it will not be accepted. No offer to buy securities can be accepted, and no part of the purchase price can be received, until a Form C is filed and only through Wefunder’s platform. Any indication of interest involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. 

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After a 6-Year Absence India's DomainX Conference Staged a Big Comeback With 2025 Event in New Delhi

After a six-year hiatus, the curtain went back up in India's DomainX conference August 30-31, 2025 at the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Delhi Airport in New Delhi. One of the original founders of the event that ran annually from 2014-2019 (and its current CEO), Manmeet Pal Singh, helped orchestrate the DomainX revival. The shutdown was precipitated by the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020 but with the global domain industry enjoying a rapid expansion and the popularity of new events like London's Domain Summit and Domain Days Dubai, this looked like a good time for the Indian domain community to step back into the spotlight.

Above: The traditional opening ceremony that was a hallmark of previous DomainX conferences kicked off the 2025 event. 

Manmeet told us, "We clocked approximately 140-150 participants on both days of the event with Dynadot flying in VP of Aftermarket Hallie Cao from the U.S. at the last minute and representatives from Lars Jensen’s registry, .ICU, represented by his local team based out of Mumbai." 

Another one of this year's full-time DomainX organizers, Growth Engineer and SEO Scientist Shailendra Mishra (Founder & Director at Milestone Machine LLP) told us, "On the event's opening day, New Delhi experienced unexpectedly bad weather. This resulted in some delays for arriving guests, but it certainly didn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm. All speakers presented stellar insights and personal anecdotes. We were also happy that Mr. Ajay Data, despite a sudden health decline, was able to join us digitally via Google Meet and give us some fantastic insights on the use of AI in several aspects of brand building and brand protection for businesses.

One of the highlights of DomainX 2025 was this Fireside Chat featuring (left to right) Moderator Shailendra Mishra, Manmeet  Pal Singh, Harmandeep Singh and Vinesh Bhaskarla.

Shailendra noted, "For the first time ever, we also held a one-day Domain Investment Workshop adjacent to the annual conference, which was very well received. Manmeet Pal Singh, Vinesh Bhaskarla and I hared details advice on domain name investment, tips, and tricks."

A photo from the Domain Investment Workshop at Domain 2025 with a special guest,
 Dyandot VP of Aftermarket Hallie Cao (3rd from right).

Shailendra said, "I am glad that we had representatives from ICANN, registries, and registrars available for networking and learning" He also pointed to several specific talks that were personal highlights. "Mr. Manoj Dhanda, who rebranded his cloud server company from Microhost to utho.com a couple of years back, shared great insights into the 'ins and outs' of that process and its expected and unexpected benefits. Mr. Rodney Ryder and Mr. Ankur Raheja, both well-known legal experts and IP lawyers, provided their respective case studies and numerous recent domain dispute cases they've handled, significantly improving our understanding of brand protection and infringement avoidance."

"Also, Mr. Manmeet Pal Singh presented his recent domain sales and negotiation stories, making the session tenfold more energetic and I had the fortune to participate in a couple of panel discussions in which we covered numerous sales tactics from both business and domainer perspectives."

As always, the biggest benefits from attending DomainX come from new relationships made and existing ones strengthened.

"The Indian domain name market remains promising for both new and established players," Shailendra said. "The startup ecosystem is not just growing; but maturing rapidly. There's a noticeable shift towards a more sophisticated understanding of domain assets as integral components of digital strategy, rather than just technical necessities."
"We saw an impressive and enthusiastic turnout, filling the hall with a diverse mix of domain investors, brand owners, legal professionals, and digital marketers. The energy at the conference clearly demonstrated a strong appetite for knowledge, collaboration, and innovation, suggesting a very positive trajectory for the Indian domain ecosystem in the coming years," he concluded.

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Scenes from the 2025 Domain Summit Conference That Completed Its 3-Day Run Wednesday Evening in London

Editor's Note: Our new full Domain Summit conference review has now been published so you can get a complete summary of this year's event.

The 2025 Domain Summit conference closed this evening in London, England. This year's event was held in a new venue, the city's roomy and conveniently located Business Design Centre. Domain Summit has been an annual event in London but from this point forward it is branching out with additional events around the globe (the next of those will be Domain Summit Africa, coming up next February in Nairobi). With that expansion, this year's London event was dedicated to the European market, though it will continue to attract attendees from all over the world as it did again this week. 

When the conference releases their official photos from this year's event we will put together a full review of the conference for you. In the meantime, as an appetizer, we gathered a few scenes posted by attendees on social media to give you a taste of what transpired in London over the past three days.

Above: London's Business Design Center 
where the 2025 Domain Summit was held this week.

Below: While the conference ran Tuesday and Wednesday, September 2 & 3, some of those who arrived early were treated to a tour, drinks and snacks at Team Internet's London headquarters Monday afternoon (September 1).

Above: On Monday evening, the pre-show activities continued with a Networking Party at a classic UK pub nearby.

Below: Bright and early Tuesday morning Domain Summit Founder Helmuts Meskonis (at left) made his way around the London Design Centre to welcome sponsors and exhibitors (including  DN.com's Jack Dai, at right) to this year's show.

Above: Three global partners signed on with Domain Summit to support the event's global expansion. They include .it.com Domains, Freename and Site.pro. Here you see .it.com Domans Founder Antony Insarov (at left) and Chief Strategy Officer Joe Alagna (at right) visiting the aeserver.com booth manned by Founder Munir Badr. Munir, of course, is also widely known as the Founder of Domain Days Dubai (the 2025 edition of that popular event is coming up next month).

Below: Out on the Exhibit Hall floor, Sedo's "Mr. Premium" Mark Ghoriafi (at left) took the opportunity to chat with Jeff Nyman (Digital New Media).

Above: Dozens of business sessions were presented on two separate tracks over Domain Summit's two business days. You can see the full agenda from the show here. Photo credit: Gherardo Varani (Freename).

Below: The sessions began at 10am Monday with an eye-opening Keynote from Team Internet CEO Michael Riedl. 

Above: Above.com Aftermarket General Manager Nathan Parker (at right with Senior Account Manager Jodi Chamberlain) joined Sedo's Mark Ghoriafi on stage for Broker Talk, one of Wednesday's most popular business sessions.

Below: Some more of the many familiar faces in the Domain Summit crowd, (left to right) James Barker, James Iles (GoDaddy), Leanne McMahon (Crunch.id) and Lee Lovell (DNX.com).

By all accounts we've seen, just hours after closing,  Domain Summit 2025 is already being hailed as another highly productive event for those who were there to experience it first hand. More to come!

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