Since the creation of blockchain technology, crypto companies have been working to achieve what they consider the most democratic version of the internet by taking control from corporations or centralized entities and giving it back to users.
Startup D3 Global just raised $25 million in pursuit of that goal. With funding from crypto investment firm Paradigm, D3 seeks to develop infrastructure to support registration and trading of website domains using blockchain technology.
In a play on crypto jargon like DeFi or DApp, the company refers to its niche as DomainFi.
Fred Hsu, D3’s co-founder and CEO, and who has worked in the domain industry for 25 years, says that buying a memorable, legitimate domain name for anything from a small start-up to a big company is “super hard.”
“Oftentimes you're dealing with brokers that charge 25% to 30%, long escrow delays that take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks to get your domain name…and then there’s just really clunky, slow, inflexible ways to pay,” he said. “You can't really pay with crypto in the domain world.”
Hsu says domain registration on a blockchain fixes these problems and provides additional benefits. Through its blockchain called Doma, which is set to launch in the coming months, domain holders will be able to receive their website name instantly and make it easier to trade.
While the company seeks to verify the ownership of pre-existing domains by turning them into NFTs, it is also trying to create new domains by partnering with blockchains like Solana and Avalanche. Solana and Avalanche plan to team up with D3 to apply for new domains so that developers can register websites ending in .SOL and .AVAX rather than .com and other popular endings, creating millions of new names to choose from.
“All the good dot coms are taken. There's about 150 million of these things,” Hsu said. “...We're super excited about this upcoming round for a new dot something.”
D3 currently shares some of the revenue collected by its current partners like ApeCoin, which has a dot ape domain. Hsu plans to charge fees for buying, selling, trading and lending domains once the Doma blockchain launches.
D3 is not the only company focused on integrating blockchain technology into domain trading. Unstoppable Domains seeks to make sending and receiving cryptocurrencies simpler by replacing lengthy wallet addresses with a customized domain that can also function as a website.
The latest funding round also included participation from Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of crypto exchange Coinbase, and individual industry leaders. The company will use the money raised to enter into more strategic partnerships and assist other companies in using its technology.
The company previously raised $5 million in a seed round in 2023.
