Why we’re no longer offering .coin

We became aware of a potential collision with our .coin top-level domain and the .coin domain issued by Emercoin, a blockchain platform. After a careful review, we’ve decided that the best path forward is to stop supporting .coin domains. 

We don’t make this decision lightly and we know it isn’t ideal. That’s why we’re offering .coin domain owners credits of three times what they paid through Dec. 31, 2022. We also wanted to share how we came to this choice and why we’re so committed to resolving naming collisions – even when it’s painful. 

What we found in our investigation

When we launched .coin in 2021, we weren’t aware of this naming collision. Emercoin, the platform issuing .coin domains, hadn’t marketed their TLD extensively, making it difficult to find. As soon as this collision came to our attention, we stopped selling .coin domains while we investigated the issue. 

Through our investigation, we found that Emercoin registered their first .coin domains in 2014, gained some market penetration, and built an integration in a reputable application: OpenNIC. We’re committed to protecting our customers from the risk of functional collision. 

The Emercoin team are pioneers in our industry and we regret that we weren’t aware of this naming collision earlier. 

The threat of naming collisions 

Naming collisions are dangerous for the Unstoppable community and for Web3 as a whole. Multiple versions of a TLD could cause chaos. Imagine sending Bitcoin to the wrong nora.nft, or connecting your wallet to uniswap.crypto and getting a scammer’s website instead of the real one.  

That’s why we’ve decided to stop support for .coin on the Unstoppable system. We believe the platform with the first commercial use should have the rights to that domain ending, and in this case, we believe Emercoin is that platform. 

Simply put, it’s the right thing to do. 

What to know if you own .coin 

As of today, we've disabled .coin resolution in our libraries and services. Unstoppable domains are self-custodied NFTs, so you still own your .coin domain, but it won’t work with our resolution services or integrations. 

We're offering .coin holders three times the purchase price of their domains in credits upon their successful return through Dec. 31, 2022, which you can initiate in the My Domains section of the website.

People who own .coin domains will hear from us with more info. Visit our help center to answer other frequently asked questions. 

Looking to the future

We’ve thoroughly researched each of our other top-level domains, and we’re highly confident that Unstoppable has the right to offer and operate all of them. Many early attempts at blockchain naming systems were small and built for very specific communities. Seeking out those early projects has been a challenge, but we've looked into them in extreme detail. 

Since the implementation of .coin, we’ve also developed a more extensive list of domain registry providers and have put systems in place to avoid similar situations going forward.

Self-regulation is critical to the survival of Web3 domains and the broader web3 community. It’s the most effective way to create high-quality products and services and a better, safer experience for customers. We are committed to supporting the long-term health of Web3, and to working alongside others in this space to create a new identity system for the Internet.

We’re extremely grateful for your support, and we apologize to our community for any inconvenience caused by this decision. We’re here to help if you have any questions about this news – feel free to reach out to us at support@unstoppabledomains.com.

MEDIA CONTACT: press@unstoppabledomains.com