From NamesCon to Real Life: Networking, Education, and Web3 Insights

What is your why? This episode is a journey through personal motivations in the tech industry, particularly in the realm of Web3 domain names and digital identity. I share an intimate story about onboarding my non-technical mother into the world of cryptocurrency and NFTs, a transformative experience that deepened my commitment to educating others. We reflect on recent experiences at NamesCon, where networking and evaluating our educational outreach became a central theme, inspiring us to ponder how to reach everyday individuals who might benefit from Web3 technology but lack access to current resources.

The integration of Web 2 and Web 3 domaining sessions at NamesCon and CloudFest marks an exciting evolutionary step in domain technology discussions. We explore how this collaboration fosters inclusivity and raises awareness about the potential of these technologies. From delightful side events at places like Pelon's Mexican restaurant to informal yet impactful networking sessions at the Omni Hotel, we recount moments that embodied the event's collaborative spirit. Special encounters, like our enthusiastic conversation with Kevin from .CFD, underline the forward-thinking ambiance that permeated the conference.

Emerging trends and challenges in the Web3 domain space are at the forefront of our discussion, with key highlights from NamesCon and the Right of the Dot auction illustrating market dynamics. Significant bids for Web3 domains such as X.NFT and .SEO demonstrate the growing interest and valuation in this space. We emphasize the critical need for continued innovation, particularly in the usability of Web3 TLDs with services like MetaMask and Ether scan. Addressing both internal challenges and the potential for domain collision, the episode underscores the importance

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Chapters

• 2:17 Exploring Personal Motivations in Tech
• 14:50 Integrating Web 2 and Web 3
• 22:44 Emerging Trends in Web3 Technology
• 28:08 Navigating Challenges in Web3 Domain Space

Transcript

Speaker 1: 2:17

Thank you. Thank you, hello hello. We're going to get started in just a moment. As everybody is coming into the space, if you all could do me a big favor, as always, if you could go down to that bottom right-hand bubble, like and retweet. Let's share the space out and get more people in. Hello hello said we will get started in just a moment, probably going to end up changing the space this time. It's something that I've actually thought about for a few weeks now, just to kind of reach people Different time of day when they're starting to get off. I think that's where my target demographic may lie, and the reason for which is, like literally right now, I think ENS has started picking this time to do their spaces on Wednesday. Might potentially be on purpose, but they're actually having a space that I wanted to listen into. So, yeah, for those of you who aren't able to make this space today or who tapped in to that space instead of this one, this one will be recorded, as always. But, yeah, we'll get started in just a moment. Again, you can like and retweet. Let's get some more people in and then we'll get this started.

Speaker 1: 3:34

Also, if anybody would like to come up to speak, feel free to request a speaker role. Like I said, this one's gonna be pretty quick. It's just gonna be a nice little recap of recent experience in NamesCon. Also, as you can see from the title of the space, what is your why? You know NamesCon inspired me to create a space to talk about a little bit and you know most of you who have been, you know, part of our community for a while and have been in quite a few spaces, probably have, you know, a good idea of our ethos, but it's always good to spell it out sometimes. So we'll just be going through that a little briefly, try to end this a little early so we can catch the last half of the ENS space. And yeah, without further ado, let's go ahead and get started. And again, if you want to request a speaker, feel free to hop up on the stage.

Speaker 1: 4:23

But yeah, welcome to iHeart Domains and our Tech Talk Spaces where we discuss news, innovations, education, alpha and business development in the Web3 domain name and digital identity space. We are the number one platform for Web3 blockchain domain content, with over 100 podcast episodes and YouTube videos produced over the past two years. As always, our Tech Talk spaces are recorded, so you can view our content archive at iHeartDomainscom, where you will see it in both blog form and in podcast form, which you can also listen to on every major podcast player, including Apple and Spotify. You can get that pretty easy at TechTalkhost. Yeah, and just one more reminder, if you could, as you're coming into the space, like and retweet, and if you want to come up, feel free to request a speaker role.

Speaker 1: 5:12

But the topic at hand is what is your why? And then we'll go into the Namescom recap. And I want to start off with the what is your why? Because, like I said, it's important sometimes to keep putting this information out here so that people can understand you, know why you're here and they know how to partner with you. In the rear of most conferences it's typically what I do is I take the time to reflect not only on the people that I meet and the convos that I had, but also, most importantly, it's whether or not I was able to effectively deliver value to whoever I spoke to and how much traction that we're kind of actually making with Web 3.0 Domain Education. So that always brings the same question to mind, and I've learned that it's good to look back and even optimize as we grow in the space and that question is why? Why do I want to be here? Why do I put in the work every day? Why do I focus on education rather than some of the monetary opportunities that are out there Not to say that I turn them down, but why is my general focus on education instead of that, and why do I think I even provide value to this space? The answer for me always draws me back to onboarding my mother into this space.

Speaker 1: 6:30

You know who was possibly the hardest person to ever get to adopt anything? You know we're talking to a woman who was almost 70, a retired lieutenant colonel and pretty set in her ways, told the story a million times. You know, anytime I come across something you know innovative, she's always been the person that was in my corner my whole life, so I always read stuff past her. You know, literally the smartest person I ever knew. And you know, when I first approached her with cryptocurrency, you know, obviously she was like I didn't want to hear that. And then I came to her with NFTs and she didn't want to hear that either. But when I came to her with domain names and I came to her with why, I felt that domains provided value. You know, outside of poop coins, which is what people hear about, you know, when they're watching the news, or outside of monkey pictures. You know she got it and I was extremely surprised. You know that she asked me to get her some right there on the spot. That that was the thing right.

Speaker 1: 7:29

And you know, kind of further, as we get into the space, I'm realizing that most of the resources and content that we put out there, you know, for people like her that aren't technical, it's never going to reach those people organically, like people like my mother, people like you know, like the everyday people that we think are going to come into the space and can really benefit from using Web3 technology. I mean, they're not here on Twitter, they're not tapping into D&Journal, they're not going to these conferences, they don't have access to this information, you know. And then, even when they hear it, sometimes it sounds like alien speak, like even I. You know, with as much as I've tried to educate myself technically and as much as I can, you know I go to these conferences and I've educated myself about the space. I even get stuck in conversations where I just don't understand what that person's telling me and I've got to walk back and figure it out, and that brings us, like we often can't hear something unless we relate to where it's coming from, and so I felt that there was a need for someone, you know, that can go out into the space, that can learn this information, that can soak it all up and then bring it back, you know, to the community in the language that they understand. So, with all that being said, that's my why. Right, I enjoy capturing you know the content that I capture. I enjoy creating narratives and dreaming and putting ideas out there, I enjoy experimenting, I enjoy partnering with people and platforms, I enjoy innovating and, last but not least, I enjoy hosting these tech talk spaces with the goal of one day being able to onboard people like my mother, like my aunties, my uncles, my community, your community and anyone else who wants a shot at empowerment on the blockchain using digital identity. So, with that being said, if any projects or platforms out there have an education and onboarding budget and you feel like this is important to you and the growth of your platform, feel free to reach out and let's see if there's synergy. But that's my why, and everybody has a different why, and it's good, like I said, if we're out here grinding and we're building, it's good often to look back and see what that why is, so that you can optimize and make sure you're staying on target the why for some people, and this is a great space for those who want to empower themselves financially. So set your goals as such you know and map your path accordingly.

Speaker 1: 10:26

The past couple of years, I really felt like at Consensus and at NamesCon. I'm starting to meet more and more people who share that same passion along the same kind of why. We actually have somebody in the crowd right now, nothing to do my friend David, and this is somebody I met at Consensus, at the Unstoppable VIP Mixer, and it's a breath of fresh air. I'm walking on my way out and I run into the best possible person, not only to validate why I'm here and why I do this, but also to validate that there's other people out there that are looking at this space from the same perspective. There are people out there that want to build. There are people out there that want to see what these things can do. Nothing wrong with wanting these to make money with but there are people out there that really have a need. They have something that needs to be fixed. They have a problem that needs to be solved, and they're listening. They're listening to how can these solve, or how can whatever solve my problem, and this is the opportunity that a lot of us have to put that out there. If that's your, why Shout out to David. By the way, I see you down there, man. Much love. We hung out the majority of consensus, solid dude. I look forward to continuing to build our friendship and grinding forward Again. That helps validate why I'm here.

Speaker 1: 11:42

One big misconception, too, just to put that out there. And again, you know you got to chart your own path. You got to figure out your own why. But what I don't want is for you to be misled by misconceptions too. I think people are under the misconception that dedicating yourself to public goods or not being all about the money means you don't have any or won't make any, or that it sacrifices monetary gain. The difference is you're just not here for it. I would say that the perception is different, but the reality of sacrifice and monetary gain couldn't be further from the truth.

Speaker 1: 12:22

Educators, or people who make it their living to educate or their business to educate and have found a way to monetize education. So I don't want that to deter you or deter the next person who feels like my place is really educating. But I don't want to give up being able to pay my bills. There are opportunities out there where people will sponsor you if you're providing educational resources, where people will hire you for consulting, where people will pay you for your content. A lot of these platforms automatically will monetize your content if you're hitting certain metrics. So just putting that out there as a path forward for anybody who shares the same ethos, wants to build a path in the space as an educator, that is definitely something that we need more of and I'll get into that when we get you know, start digging into the Namescom recap and what I think is working and what isn't. You know, start digging into the Namescom recap and what I think is working and what isn't. But that, I think, is we say it every day in every space we need more education, we need more education. I think we need less talking about education and more people you know to start actually dedicating their platform to education and educating you know in a way that people can understand. All right, and with that being said, yeah, we're kind of rolling through this super quick Good stuff Might be able to catch that solid part of the ENS space. So I'm going to jump right into the NamesCon recap.

Speaker 1: 13:39

As you guys know, I just got back from NamesCon 2024. It was in Austin, texas, from June 5th to June. I think it was 9th. It was June 5th, 6th no, it was 8th 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th. It was four days, five through nine. Sounds like you're adding four, but that's actually it. But anyway, it was three main days of the conference, one extra fun day. It was an amazing time Again. The quality of people that I was able to speak to and the quality of conversations was just amazing.

Speaker 1: 14:07

Um, but a couple things that I wanted to point out and talk about. Um, some some highlights. Um, first and foremost, uh, the attendance this year was solid. The layout was pretty much the same, except they allowed people to have a couple of uh of the booths upstairs as well. So it looked, uh, it looked like there was more there. Definitely looked like the attendance was more attended than it was last year. Not by much, because it's always been a small conference. It doesn't have thousands of people. We're talking hundreds, but still, if you're in the Omni Hotel. It's perfect size and it's a perfect space and location for what they hold and we definitely fill it out.

Speaker 1: 14:50

All the sessions for Web 2 and Web 3 domaining were pretty much integrated within the same ballroom or conference room or speech room, whatever it was a conference room, which is something that you know, something to be kind of. I don't know if I would necessarily say proud of, but it definitely seems like progression. Right, our curriculum is now intertwined because we're now able to have kind of the same conversation. I feel like over the past couple of years with us, you know, pitching Web3 domains and pitching the technology, and especially with some of the advances that we're making, it definitely was evident that people were aware of what this space can do. Now they may not be looking at it through the same lens as us the speculators may be looking at it, but we're now starting to have one and the same conversation and that was evident by, like I said, the sessions being integrated in the same ballroom. I enjoyed that because I enjoyed the feeling again like we're included, you know, feeling again like we're like we're included. They did still have the additional bar rooms, but those were breakout sessions for the CloudFest portion of I think there was a CPOWER room. They may have had one or two sessions in there that were related to the main thing, but at some point it just became like CloudFest stuff.

Speaker 1: 16:10

And for those who aren't already familiar, namescon and CloudFest the conference is one and the same. So when you get a NamesCon ticket, you get a CloudFest ticket, et cetera, et cetera. It's hard to tell the difference sometimes. Who's there for what? So it's always cool when you run into somebody like at the fun day had a whole conversation with somebody who was there for something completely different, for CloudFest, and didn't even know that people you know had these kind of conferences to sell domain names. But yeah, it's an integrated conference. So you have people that are there to learn about cloud computing, all that good stuff that comes with it Definitely not on that kind of technical level to explain what they know, but you've got that part. And then you've got namescon. So that was good to see again the Web 2 and web three sessions being integrated.

Speaker 1: 16:56

Um, also, you know it, they weren't any Denver side events, but the side events weren't bad. Um, I actually only went to one of the side events, which was, um, not the ICA, uh, I forget. I think it was the no. I went to the namecom breakfast. It was another event, the same. It was happening at the same time as the IC thing.

Speaker 1: 17:16

In any event, they had it downtown. I think it started at like 5.30 or something in the evening and it was supposed to go to maybe 8.30, which is roundabout. When I left and I heard it went a lot later than that. But the side events they had a couple side events. Most were during the daytime lunch because we're dealing with grown adults and not DGents, but they weren't bad and you could tell that they put the budgets there. I wish I could remember the name of who it was that threw the side event downtown.

Speaker 1: 17:48

We also had the official side event, which would be the fun day. The official side event which would be the fun day, instead of hosting it at Banger's, which is down on Rainey Street, like they did last year and I think they did the year before last. I actually missed the fun day the year before last, but they did this one at a Mexican restaurant called Pelon's that was within walking distance from the conference center. It had a few levels all outside in the hot, scorching sun, but still it was very nice, very good day, you know, for the pretty much everyone who didn't, you know, shoot out the you know the night before and a lot of people even flew out from there, you know, came there, so it was packed out as well and it provided another great opportunity to have some very good conversations about you know, our whys, right, and what we're looking for in networking, and was very surprised at how many people you know were receptive to having conversations that were what's related Again, that were already familiar with what you know the space could offer and, just, you know, need that extra nudge, that extra education or, like I said, some of them, they just need to be shown the money, right, we have a lot of work to do on our side of the space to make this make sense to those who need to be shown the money Going off of the side of this.

Speaker 1: 19:09

And this was like super unofficial, but one of the things I wanted to highlight is we ended up having like this super big informal networking session right after that ica dinner party. So, as I said, I went to somewhere else. I can't remember who sponsored it, but I'll remember as soon as the space is over. That's how my brain works, um, but went to that party, went back to the hotel, I ended up going out to meet up with some friends that belonged to a DAO that I had joined. That was when Flexster and Kiosk had come into town and they came over to that house and picked me up is held and most of the people who are attending the conference are staying and we're talking about this is like maybe 9, 10 o'clock at night. So when we get back to the Omni Hotel I'm pretty much just there going over the day with them and we run into Kevin from CFD.

Speaker 1: 20:05

So I fanboyed out a little bit because I'm a fan of CFD, regardless of whether it goes somewhere, has resale value or not. I love the narrative of clothing fashion design. I just explained my why up above, so let me love it. Got a chance to talk to him about the vision of CFD, got a chance to give him my praises of both Paige and Julie for doing an awesome job of bringing awareness about CFD, keeping it alive and getting us excited about, you know, wanting to build on the TLD. Then we got a chance to go outside and really fellowship and connect with PAH, but then everybody from that ICA meeting started coming back, and I'm talking, most of the conference was inside of the bar. That was at the front, you know, at the front when you first coming into the Omni, most of the conference or people from the conference that were attending it, ended up in there and we just had this big old networking session, just everybody in there talking and drinking and networking from the day, and it was great and that's what I mean.

Speaker 1: 21:10

Like you know, I say it, everyone says it, ishwini has said it there's a different quality to going to conferences, meeting up with people face to face so that they can see your energy. It not only does that, but going out is a tell. Right, going to a conference is a tell that you're serious about what you're doing, that you, that you put you know your finances or you put your money in in into becoming better at your craft. People don't go to conferences to brag, they go to conferences to learn, and that's something that I think is a big tell. So people really appreciate that. And again, these kind of experiences can't be had on Twitter. That night can't be recreated anywhere but where it happened. So very grateful for that.

Speaker 1: 21:52

And that brings us back again to the quality of networking. That's what we had at this year's NamesCon being able to network for the first time ever. I mean, I think I've seen Jack be in all three years where his name's not even Jack but he goes by Jack. But I've seen him all three years but never had a chance to converse with him until that night. You know Andrew Rosner, somebody I've only been able to listen to in spaces and, you know, got the chance to hear during Ishmael Space, being able to talk to him in person, and not only talk to him in person but, like throughout the rest of the conference, I'm having that type of experience with someone whose information literally onboarded you into the space. It's priceless.

Speaker 1: 22:44

The quality of network. People like getting to see Bruce again, todd, getting to see all these superstars. There was a moment where they did the top 10 awards for the top 10 brokers. You're're learning as you're watching this right. You're seeing them get their awards and other people are telling you like, oh, that guy sold this many domains or this much, and I'm learning a real grasp of how big the space is and what we're really trying to become a part of. And that now takes me to what is working and what isn't, because that's a part of studying your space, right. We can't just assume that because we created this and because it exists and because we think it's cool, everyone else will think it's cool and that our job is done. There are a lot of things that we can do on our end that can help push our space along, and then there are some things that we're doing that are probably holding it back a little bit.

Speaker 1: 23:42

First thing I wanted to talk about about what's working, and this is just another observation from NamesCon itself. One of the big events that happens during each NamesCon is the Ride to the Dot auction, which is owned and hosted by Monty Kahn, the godfather of domains, the inventor of the space, pretty much the inventor of selling domains. His right of the dot auction is a great place not only for people to acquire, for people who are seeing domain for the first time, to kind of get a grasp for how much domains can sell, for it's really intense when you see that but it's also a great place to see price discovery for experimental stuff, and that's what we're considered right. Until we have a proven market, we have a proven product of integration and adoption, kind of experimental. And so, first and foremost, we owe Monty a debt of gratitude and we owe him thanks for including Web3 domains and Web3 TLDs in this auction. So I just wanted to say thank you and salute to him for that.

Speaker 1: 24:46

But going into the auction itself, a couple moments made me extremely proud. That was the XNFT reaching a bid of what was it? $30,000 before it had to go back to the online auction. I guess it didn't hit the reserve. But the fact that Web3 NFT from unstoppable domains you know how we all feel about or not we all, I don't feel but you know a lot of the criticism that comes out about the potential resale of unstoppable domains that is a solid bid. We're talking E&S numbers at that point. That's almost what's 90th. That's solid at that. You know, and I don't know what it's going to go for in the secondary. Hopefully it reaches its reserve, it clears, it gets paid and it's an actual stat that we're able to put on the books for domain sold.

Speaker 1: 25:41

But that, and then also it was SEO, which was a TLD for free name going all the way up to 21K before it ended up going to the RLite auction, which means it also did not hit reserves, which means it also did not hit reserves, but those we never got anywhere close to those kind of bids last year with what was it? Austinnft and something else, nft from Unstoppable. And to come back this year and to have, you know, bids running up these Web3Domains assets to that point when we previously weren't seeing those kinds of price, we weren't seeing that kind of price action prior to his option, like nothing. None of the inventory outside of ENS was seeing those kind of numbers. And let's just be straight up, so right at the dot, you know putting these assets in the auction, you know kind of solidifying what could potentially be the value of these assets. You know that's something that, again, that's working right. His auction is working, other auctions are working, other methods of price discovery are working. These are things that we should continue to discover so that we can find our correct value.

Speaker 1: 26:44

Another thing that is working and unfortunately, if you're not an ENS lover you're probably not going to like to hear this, but ENS technology is what's working. It is what's definitely working and building a bridge between our space and the Web2 domain space. Does that mean it'll be the only thing that works? I have no clue what technology will eventually get adopted or start making sense or will match the utility that ENS technology does provide for people who enter the Web3 space. But a lot of Web2 TLDs they are talking about coming into our space and almost all of them plan on using ENS technology to do so, simply because they get this behemoth of an asset on the other side. When you get an ENS domain, that just resolves everywhere. So what do I mean by? Is me saying I'm bullish on ENS technology, saying I'm bearish on everything else? No, I'm pretty much saying I'm bullish on technology in general. It's just ENS at this current moment, and maybe for a while, is a dominant technology, but at some point somebody will develop something better and so, with that being said, we need to focus those who can build, those who can develop, on technology that continues to make this make sense in a usable way. Right Again, you know ENS's value proposition is that they're integrated in everything.

Speaker 1: 28:08

They're plug and play. You can use them in MetaMask immediately to send money back and forth. They resolve an Ether scan. We all know the drill and there will be other things. Right, metamask won't be the only thing that people use. Ether scan won't be the only thing. Well, ether scan for Ether will be the only thing that people use, but there will be other Oracle services and things that can pull information as other things continue to develop. We should continue to develop and continue to try to rival the different technologies that are out there so that people have choices.

Speaker 1: 28:37

And then the third thing that is working is the value prop of Web3 TLDs. People already understand the value prop of TLDs in that space because they're taking their Web2 TLDs and turning them essentially into Web3 TLDs, but even Web3 TLDs themselves. There's value in that and I think we've gotten somewhere with communicating that. Not only us, but again got to give flowers where flowers is due. You know unstoppable with them. You know taking that, going that extra mile and going that extra effort. Not taking anything away from anyone else. Got no clue what your plans are. They're just building in public and saying it out loud anything away from anyone else. Got no clue what your plans are. They're just building in public and saying it out loud.

Speaker 1: 29:16

A lot of people were talking about them bringing some of their Web2 TLDs to ICANN in their next meeting I believe it's in a couple of years and trying to get them turn into real Web2 TLDs. Whatever that process is, and if they're able to actually do that, that's going to send out a whole. That's going to send out like a beacon to anyone else that is sitting on a grail web3 tld that has, you know, pretty much the the same type of structure or maybe the same type of uh company or something like you know whatever would appeal to Unstoppable to make them want to do the same thing for them and their TLD. That creates a whole other value proposition for people who are sitting on Web3 TLDs. We need somebody to set a precedent right, and UD could potentially be the people who do that and pave the path right. I think there may be some others who plan on going into the round and hopefully as many as possible are successful, because then that will actually absolutely jack up the value of TLDs on the Web3 side. They no longer become things that will only be restricted to the blockchain. Now I've said it many times and will continue to say I don't think that they need to resolve via DNS in order for them to have value. There's plenty of value for them on the Web3 side in order for them to have value. There's plenty of value for them on the Web3 side. But if we are truly trying to build that bridge between, again, our space and investors which is, make no mistake, that that's what you're dealing with on that side you've got to show them how their investment or their involvement in the space could translate into buckaroos on the other side. And I think we're charting a good port, a good path, with that, uh, with Web3TLDs and some of the things we're intending to attempt to do with them.

Speaker 1: 31:03

Um, and then going back now to to what isn't working um, two big things, and these are no-brainers for everyone. First is our internal politics. You know, I've said it before, said it again we're messy. Our space is messy. We have great potential. We have great technology, Even in individual communities.

Speaker 1: 31:29

If you go into these individual communities, you go into the ENS community. There are some amazing smart people, a lot of of amazing smart people in that community, and you could get to know and become friends with any one of them, and that's ditto for anyone else. You go into the handshake community and made friends with plenty of them, and they're also amazing smart people who are developing and building. You go in the unstoppable community and there are plenty of them. Those whales are awesome people. They're probably the most supportive community besides the free name community of my platform. And then, of course, you've got the like I said ditto for any community, every community has builders.

Speaker 1: 32:07

Every community has awesome, amazing people that are diehard and are willing to die on the hill of bringing their platform to the forefront of this space, and that shouldn't divide us. That should bring us together, right? You shouldn't look at the next builder and say he's got to go. You should look at the next builder and say this dude's providing value. How can we build together? Doesn't matter if you're not working with the same namespace. Why don't you build a tool that works for both namespaces, like the email client or something I mean?

Speaker 1: 32:37

There's plenty of stuff that we can do besides continuously battle each other, and it becomes the thing that people notice most about us, and that's the problem where we're at now, where when you say words like handshake and unstoppable, it's synonymous with issues and drama. Nobody talks about the tech at that point. We only just talk about that. One year, handshake showed up when Brad was up there and there was a fight. That's all anybody talks about, and so we have to change that perception as soon as possible. But that comes from within and I know that this is, you know, this is asking for a miracle, but I got to keep asking for it and I got to keep pointing out that, yeah, it's a problem. So, for those of you who don't think it's a problem, it's a problem. Hopefully one day we will fix it.

Speaker 1: 33:20

The second thing and I really don't know how we're ever going to fix this, but a real fear is collision and the fact that there is no clear winner. You know, from a technology standpoint, again, a lot of platforms and TLDs are choosing ENS technology to enter into our space. But even from our investment standpoint, like we're investing, us as individuals are investing in others' TLDs ie e, x, ft, etc. Etc. Collision, or you know, the possibility of another naming service popping up out of nowhere and duplicating you. Yeah, that makes people uncomfortable.

Speaker 1: 34:03

We're trying to pitch the Wild Wild West to a world that is very regulated and makes sense. There is no collision in the ICANN TLD space and that is something that makes investments comfortable. You know, even in real life. You know gold is gold, silver diamonds is diamonds. You like to know that what you're investing in has a value that can at least be substantiated by the fact that it's rare, at least in its own space right, and Web2 TLDs provide that on the ICANN side.

Speaker 1: 34:38

So far, right now on Web3, we have the perception of winners, but we still have the reality that other people can pop up in the space. Does that mean that an organization like, you know, web3 Domain Alliance or something like that needs to be created or needs to exist in order to make things more clear? I don't know. Again, you know it's important that we have the conversation so that we can eventually start coming up with what will, you know, help people to feel more comfortable with coming into space. You know there's litigation, you know, currently going on between, or potentially about to go on between the UD and unstoppable or UD and ENS. I don't know if the litigation between UD and Handshake is still going, but some of that will also play a part in clarifying the space, which may not necessarily produce a winner, but at least produce rules of engagement per se, and we need these things and we need to continue to encourage these things.

Speaker 1: 35:43

For those who adopted the centralized ethos that think that everything should just be let the platform do what it does and grow how it grows and don't tell me what I can buy and can't own, and et cetera. You're digging your own grave for your investments because you're pushing away the market that possibly would invest in it. So, again, just more food for thought. Don't know how this will ever be fixed, because you can't stop somebody from developing a smart contract and putting names on the blockchain. We can just ignore it, which I think we do with most of them, but at some point there will need to be be. There will need to be, you know, things kind of drawn out that make this space make more sense before we can attract real investment capital, because no one wants to put their money in a naming service and then find out that another one spun up the next day, and then that one outperforms the original naming service. And then you yeah, you don't want this to feel like crypto, and that's what the Web3 domain space can feel like at times. Right, and it's cool for us, but it won't be cool for others who want to put serious money in this space. Yeah, so, with that being said, I think I rambled on for a good 35 minutes. I hope everybody enjoyed. Again, meant for this to be a quick space. I'm going to hop off this and hop onto the ENS space. That space is actually another good technology that I'm really interested in. We're coming full circle. Right Acquired a bunch of ids I think what last year Because I really believe that eventually you know people registries at the, because I really believe that eventually people registries at the SLD or the third level domain level I guess that's just too many levels but it makes sense.

Speaker 1: 37:28

Registries at that level. I see making sense, especially with the DNS integrating into ENS, because you could take regular domain names from DNS. You can import them into ENS. They work just like ENS domains but they still work as DNS. You can issue free subs or you can charge for the subs off of those. It seems like a natural path forward for those of us who have Grail, either Web2 domains that we want to bridge, or even GrailEast. Thinkvision just recently partnered with dgeneth and they launched that registry. They said they've done over 2000 names in the past week. I know I was a couple of them, so congrats to them.

Speaker 1: 38:07

But yeah, the spaces with ENS right now is with Namespace, which is a platform that enables people to do that. So I encourage everybody, if you're still in the domain mood, hop from this space over to the ENS space and I will see you over there. And again, as a reminder if you missed this space or if you want to listen back to it, you can view our content archive at iheartdomainscom or at techtalkhost, where I will upload this in a little bit, probably a couple of days. But yeah, thank you guys for attending another Tech Talk. Enjoy the rest of your week. Got to Spaces a little bit later today with Verbs. I am their new Spaces host. If you don't know what Verbs are, verbs are like nouns, except the verbs. So yeah, we'll see you guys then Enjoy your day. Happy, demanding.