Digital Identities and the Rise of Blockchain Naming Systems

Unlock the secrets of the digital future by exploring Web3 domains and digital identities with us. This episode of our Tech Talk podcast takes you on a journey through the dynamic world where Web2 meets Web3. Discover how ICANN's perspectives are becoming more inclusive of blockchain naming, likely inspired by recent developments in our space such as Freename's groundbreaking Web3 mirroring API, set to revolutionize how Web2 registrars engage with tokenized domains.

For those venturing into the realm of Web3, we break down the basics of these innovative domains. Learn how Web3 domains transform confusing blockchain addresses into user-friendly human-readable names, enhancing both accessibility and security. We discuss the rise of these domains as digital identities, simplifying crypto transactions across platforms like Ethereum and Polygon. We also share our perspective on the collaborations propelling Web3 domains into the mainstream, including integrations with services like PayPal and Venmo.

As we peer into the future of Web3 integration, the landscape looks increasingly promising. Hear about AEON's initiatives in streamlining crypto transactions, making them as intuitive as traditional card payments. With the potential for a crypto-friendly shift in US policies, the conversation delves into the anticipated growth in blockchain identity demand and the commercial possibilities of blockchain-based naming systems. Join us as we envision a world where digital identities align seamlessly with everyday life, driven by the continuous evolution of Web3 domains.

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Chapters

• 2:14 Web3 Tech Talk News and Updates
• 11:42 Understanding Web3 Domains for Beginners
• 22:47 The Value of Web3 Domains
• 28:40 The Future of Web3 Integration

Transcript

Speaker 1: 2:14

Thank you, thank you, hello, hello. Thank you for being here. We're about to get started super soon. I've actually pinned a few things up at the top of the space super soon. I've actually pinned a few things up at the top of the space, yeah, that we're going to be covering during this episode. But, yeah, feel free to ask any questions that you have in the chat and we'll get started. Like I said, let's jump into this.

Speaker 1: 2:56

First of all, I would like to welcome you to our Tech Talk podcast. This is a live discussion we record weekly here on X where we highlight news, innovations, education alpha and business development in the Web3 technology and digital identity space. I am your host, winn Airdrop, founder of iHeart Domains, and we are your number one resource for unbiased Web3 blockchain domain educational content, with over 100 Tech Talk episodes and YouTube videos produced and archived over the past two years 100 Tech Talk episodes and YouTube videos produced and archived over the past two years. You can search our entire podcast archive for prior recordings and an easy-to-read blog overview of each episode at iHeartDomainscom. Also, all prior recordings are available in podcast format on every major podcast player, including Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheartradio all that good stuff and you can reach that at techtalkhost our heart radio all that good stuff, and you can reach that at techtalkhost, as usual.

Speaker 1: 3:47

We'd like to start off with some opening news before we get into the main subject at hand. I know that there is a lot going on this week, especially this weekend, so everybody's busy and building. One of the people or one of the entities that has definitely been building and is actually on route, traveling to build some more is Freename. So the first piece of news is ICANN is having their annual meeting in Istanbul. I believe that begins either today or tomorrow or something like that. Freename most of the team is currently en route to ICANN. I think they attend pretty much every Web 2, web 3 domain expo that there is. They've been definitely out there, you know, connecting, building, creating partnerships, all that good stuff.

Speaker 1: 4:34

One of the differences in the past couple of spaces that I've been on this week that I've referenced to is, you know, icann's you know attitude towards Web3 domains. We haven't really seen much evidence of it lately, but their past couple tweets have indicated that perhaps the environment for Web3 and Web2 to begin having discussions for how to formalize these things might be becoming a little easier to do and more welcoming. One of the examples of what I'm talking about I've actually pinned up at the top. These are one of ICANN's tweets. They actually took the time to explain and introduce to their community, which is the traditional domain and community about what blockchain naming systems are, which I thought was a big step because, you know, for the past few years we've kind of been, you know, in the shadows or that thing that no one understood how it worked. And you know, now we're getting closer and closer to acceptance, to adoption and all that good stuff. So, definitely looking forward to the progress that FreeName is able to make, it this year's ICANN. They've been continuously making progress over the past couple of years. They're likely one of the people who have opened the door for these conversations to take place in a much easier way. So, yeah, shout out to them, speaking of free name as well, I believe the last spaces, the spaces before last, we talked about the newest announcement from them, which is their integration with so them and their partnership with ShortDot, is called WebUnited.

Speaker 1: 6:11

They partnered with Domain Cost Club and WS to now offer mirrored tokenized domains on the WS extension. We spoke about that in pretty good detail. We are fortunate to have Paige Howell on, who has extensive experience with WS and in the domain industry as a whole. One of the kind of continuing updates to that, though, as well, is FreeName has announced that their Web3 mirroring API is now available to any registrar. So if you are a registrar a Web2 domain registrar in the space that means you're registering traditional coms, ios, any of that stuff you may be able to reach out to WebUnited or Freename to inquire about incorporating their mirroring API into your registrar, so that when people register Web2 domains they're actually able to claim the Web3 counterpart, and that will come with all the utility integrations that Freename so far has been able to secure. So, yeah, if you're not already connected with Freename, feel free to follow their page and reach out or, you know, reach out to me and I'll get you in contact. That's another big piece of news.

Speaker 1: 7:20

Eth Denver registrations are also now open. I believe they were already open to Spork Whales. If you've been to ETH Denver, you're already familiar with the Spork thing. I think that's like their mascot Well, the buffacorn and Spork is. I don't even know why Spork makes sense with ETH Denver, but yeah, they're on that spork thing in any event. Uh, if you are a spork whale or part of that community, I think registrations were already open for you a little bit earlier. But if you um have been to any previous or past East Denver's, if you were, um, if you got one of the spork tokens, I think you have to earn it. I don't even think it's something that you could buy, uh and have staked it uh. If Denver early registrations are now open to you. So you have the opportunity now, if you have a state sport, to go on to the Eve Denver website I believe it's evedenvercom you can apply for your ticket now.

Speaker 1: 8:15

One of the newer things that they have this year that is kind of going along with the trend of subdomains that we've begun to incorporate, is they now have and are issuing subdomains. So when you go on to the ETH Denver registration page to apply for your ticket, you're also able to mint and select a well, it's not really a mint as a registration, but you're able to select a subdomain on the ETH Denvercom I guess, yeah, s-o-d-t-o-d combo. For instance, I registered marcusethdenvercom and I believe it's first come, first served. So, again, if you do have a state support, you are able to go and do early registration. It also will make you early to being able to get your subdomain. Not sure how they plan to add utility to that within the Denver ecosystem itself, but for now, I believe on the back end it does utilize E&S technology, so I think you can use it to send and receive crypto. However, do your research, because I haven't seen the ability to set records or anything like that yet. So, yeah, that's super cool records or anything like that yet. So, uh, but yeah, that's super cool.

Speaker 1: 9:27

Um, and then last, uh, kind of the most obvious news of the past week, uh has been Bitcoin hitting its all time high and it's still continuing, uh, you know, to hit more all time highs and and you know, hopefully we, we hope that continues to keep going. Uh, so, for those of you who don't already know, uh, after our U S presidential election and you know quite possibly could be directly related to it, bitcoin soared to past $76,000 a coin. Right now it's been hovering and hitting kind of bouncing back and forth between 76 and 75-ish, 76 and 75 ish, but this is super bullish for us that were around, you know, a year and a half, two years ago, when BTC started to drop back down to some pretty depressing lows, and we're talking about, you know, just north of 10K. So to be at a 7X of BTC from, you know, just a year and a half ago to today is amazing, and it is definitely following in line with some of the projections that the long-term Bitcoin whales have projected. So, you never know, we might see 100,000 Bitcoin before the end of the year. We might see a million dollar Bitcoin super soon, and so, as I've said in other spaces, now is the time to start preparing for what, for what many people perceive will be the bull run. You know, just as Bitcoin is starting to hit its new all time high, a lot of the alts are starting to pump with it. We got sold back above 200. We're getting BNB almost back at 600. We're getting ETH getting back to 3000. So it seems like you know, at least for right now, people are bullish and, you know, feel good about putting their money into the space and you know, if that continues to happen, that trend continues to happen, then we should see a bunch of liquidity in the space and with that liquidity, with new users, with, you know, hopefully newfound platforms and all that good stuff, we'll start to see more people who need a Web3 domain name and we may end up with another Web3 domain, bull run and that's definitely something that I am looking forward to. So, yeah, for anybody who's holding Bitcoin or Bitcoin assets, again, congrats to you.

Speaker 1: 11:42

If you are already spreading the word and sharing it with everybody, like I said, now is the time to do so and, with that being said, getting ready to get into our main topic. As you can see at the top of the page, main topic is going to be everything begins with a name Digital ID for Beginners, id for beginners. This past year you know, just even judging from the opening news, as you can tell, this past year has definitely been filled with a ton of innovation, partnerships and development that has brought substantial utility to our space. Some of those things include web two to web three, domain tokenization, we have decentralized website builders and even talks of applying directly to ICANN to make some of our most popular Web3 TLDs usable outside of the blockchain. With the world moving so fast and so many different narratives being cultivated, sometimes we need a refresher on the basics so that we don't get too far lost in the future. So today's space is meant to be a quick one.

Speaker 1: 12:48

I wanted to do a quick overview of what Web3 domains are, how to explain them and their value to everyday people and, plus, use them yourselves, if you aren't already. So, with that being said, I am going to jump into it. And again, if anybody has any questions, any feedback, anything like that, feel free to either leave a comment or request a speaker role. As always, I do ask everyone to like, retweet, get some people in the space. But, yeah, let's start with, again, the super basics.

Speaker 1: 13:17

What is a Web3 domain name? So a Web3 domain name is a human readable address that resolves to a blockchain address. It's really simple. It comes in many formats visually, but the most commonly used format is the one that we how a Web2 domain works and is formatted. You've got the SLDTLD. So, just as you know, we have Nikecom, cokecom, all those good things. Web3 domain, in its most commonly used form, adopts that same format, and so when you run across things like, you know, dgennft or somethingeth or somethingdgen, these are examples of Web3 domains, even though their format looks extremely similar to Web2. And this is also a reason, you know, or the necessity of this space is because there's so many similarities, oftentimes people get confused as to which is which, and you know, sometimes people think that they actually do the same thing, and I'll definitely clarify that by the end of this. Some other formats that are out there but aren't as commonly used is Handshake. You'll see the backslash.

Speaker 1: 14:34

There are some protocols that use an at sign, the same thing that you see in an email, but for the most part, web3 domains typically look exactly the same as Web2 domains, part. Web3 domains typically look exactly the same as web2 domains um. Most web3 domains um, and are minted or issued in nft format. So that's another big difference between web2 and web3 domains is register web2 domain on a registrar. It's such in your account. It's a centralized account, log in with a username and password, uh, and that's how you typically manage the domain, uh. Most web3 domains, however, are issued in the form of an NFT and your keys, your crypto. You manage them by logging into your blockchain account, into your wallet, and if you own your wallet, you should have access to change the records, move and do all that stuff with your Web3 domain. It resides in your blockchain wallet on whatever chain the Web3 registrar's smart contractor root uses. So that's another thing.

Speaker 1: 15:30

If you're minting, let's say, domains from ENS, their smart contract and their protocol lives on ETH. So more often than not, in every case if you're registering a ETH, it will reside on Ethereum. Unstoppable Domains has primarily used Polygon, I think now they've expanded to different chains, but for the most part their main smart contract lives on Polygon. So if you register exes, cryptos, nfts, your domain itself, the NFT, will reside on Polygon. They used to be on ETH and then Freename actually allows you to mint your NFT or your original NFT to multiple blockchains and you choose that at the time of mint. Their route and their smart contract is multi-chain. Now, although the domain itself and this is your singular domain the asset will reside on a single chain.

Speaker 1: 16:25

Records can be set for multiple chains allowing people to send crypto to any of your related address using the same domain name. So, even if you're, your Web3 domain is minted to and resides on the Ethereum smart chain. If you have a D app that is able to resolve it and send and receive money to people and you set your addresses for, like, solana, bitcoin, all those good things people should be able to route funds to any of those addresses using that same, that same singular domain name, and it doesn't matter the chain that it originally sits on. As long as the address matches where it's supposed to go, that's where it'll go. And then, lastly, most Web3 domains are registered at the SLD level, which is also extremely similar to the Web2 domain space. So that means that the opportunity to purchase domains usually happens with you visiting a registrar that registrar just in the same way as when you visit Dynadot or visit GoDaddy or anything like that that registrar will.

Speaker 1: 17:31

In the Web3 space, most of the registrars actually own their TLDs and are allowing others to register off those and are allowing others to register off those In the future. Well, I know Unstoppable, and I think Freename may open up the ability to register on TLDs that are outside of their own namespace. But yeah, for the most part, the real estate that you are purchasing when you're going to acquire a Web3 domain is your name, dot, whatever else is out there. There are a few platforms that actually allow registration at the TLD level, which creates an income and branding opportunity for investors who want to enter the space, and it's actually a lot more open and friendly, cost-effective all that good stuff than it is in the Web2 space, one of those platforms again being Freename. And so if you are an investor in the space again. Not only do you have the ability to register domains at the SLD level, but you also now have the ability to register TLDs and now allow others to register on your TLDs and have that similar experience as traditional registrars in the Web2 space. And we talk about it all the time and I'll touch on it maybe a little bit as the space ends, but that presents an extremely lucrative opportunity. Currently, again, when we're talking about pure Web3 domains as they exist today, they exist primarily in their utility, exists in the blockchain space. But, like I said earlier, one of our announcements is that Freename and several others have been continuously building bridges between us and ICANN, between us and the Web2 space, and, as you can see posted up above, some of these Web3 TLDs may eventually become Web2 TLDs and so if you are currently sitting on any Web3 TLDs and you're building on them and creating a community, you may be positioning yourself to be in the front running for that being the reality for yours.

Speaker 1: 19:26

So, now that we covered what a Web3 domain is, what can you do with one? And this seems to be the biggest question and confusion again when people see Web3 domains side by side with Web2 domains. And again, when people see, you know, web3 domains side by side with Web2 domains, as you, everyone, already knows, with a Web2 domain, the primarily use case is to resolve to a web address. So when you type in the Nikecom, the Cokecom, the anythinganything, it typically will take you to whatever content that they have built on that IP address. So it may take you directly to their website or you have the ability to forward it pretty much anywhere you want, to any other URL. So with some domains you're able to if you don't build a website on it or anything like that, you're able to send it to your Facebook account, to your Twitter account, wherever.

Speaker 1: 20:17

Point being most of Web2 domains, their primary focus or function is to map to a source of content on the Internet. That is not currently the primary utility or, yeah, I mean it's not currently the primary utility or native utility of Web 3.0 domains. And this is, you know, where a lot of confusion comes in and where you know a lot of people start to think that these have less value. Well, in our space, and this is what three domains are primarily used for, as I said above, they are human readable addresses that resolve to a blockchain address.

Speaker 1: 20:50

There are two main use cases that I think most people will see value from at this very simplistic level are for on-chain payments and on-chain digital identity, and I'll explain what that means. So one day or there was one day in the past probably in the 90s or whatever when DNS and the internet and all that started to form and build and create adoption where many people didn't use it right. It hasn't always been this thing that we all know and use, the way that we know and adopt and is an everyday part of life. And that's the same with the blockchain, or how people should start seeing the blockchain. Although there are millions of us that are currently using it and seeing that value, we are very much like in the very beginning of this and there are potentially billions of people who will flow into the blockchain and utilize it for all sorts of things.

Speaker 1: 21:45

But the main use case that most people will initially set up a wallet or a blockchain account for is to just receive crypto payments from others. If you've already gone through the process, or if it's your first time ever setting up a wallet, what you'll notice is that once you set up a wallet, your identity, that thing that people must now use to send crypto or other assets to you is a hexadecimal number. I forgot the character amount of 30 something, or whatever it is. Digits usually starts with a zero, x. If you're talking about an EVM ecosystem, and then BTC and all that, I think it starts with BC. For some of them they have different prefixes, but, in any event, your identity, the address that people must now use in order to send things to you, is a number that's almost impossible for most people to remember. You may remember parts of it, but it's impossible to communicate it to others and the process that we've been using a lot of OGs and crypto before you know Web3 naming came about was the copy paste, and you know.

Speaker 1: 22:47

If you've ever done a copy paste and sent a bunch of money to somebody, you know that you're on pins and needles. Until you know it went exactly where it was supposed to go and there is always a risk of it going to the wrong place. So, just as Web2 domain addresses are meant to map to IP addresses which have kind of a similar format, it's just a bunch of random numbers that nobody will ever remember. Web2 or Web3 domain names are here to make the process easier for people to find. You find that blockchain address and then send money to something that they are familiar with, which is a human readable name. So, instead of somebody having to remember zero, x and a bunch of whatevers, or instead of you having to copy paste, you are simply able to tell someone send me money at Marcusdgen or Marcuscrypto or Marcuseth, and they should be able to find and send you. You know, nfts or crypto in that way.

Speaker 1: 23:42

And now that parlays into the second utility or use case, going to the on-chain digital identity, because you have a human readable name and because it's not the 0x name that nobody can remember. And the same with IP addresses. And the same with IP addresses, just as in the Web2 world, how traditional domain names have now become a tool for branding In the on-chain world. You can also utilize your Web3 domain to do the same thing. Now, branding in the Web2 space, you know, branding your business name, getting people to recognize it, becoming a household name, being able to map it whatever, just as it has value there, being able to create your digital twin for social media, for branding your business.

Speaker 1: 24:28

Use on the blockchain. You know we we're continuously seeing what kind of benefit that adds when you're able to brand yourself on the blockchain again, you're now establishing trust, especially if you have an off-chain brand that you can also tie that to and they match. People won't be confused about who they're sending something to or who they're donating to A brand new digital identity. When someone is able to query your blockchain address, they may be able to see some of the assets that are inside of your wallet that confirm your identity. Or you know you're able, your business, your personal identity to your blockchain address. People you know being able to query it and see the same consistent information establishing that trust. You know potentially have the same impact and value as it does in the Web2 space. We do anticipate and we have seen a multitude of Web2 companies that have started to acquire their digital assets on chain, that have started to acquire that digital identity on chain, and in the future we'll start to see how people begin to intertwine them and use them as one. Again, there is an extreme value to being able to say you know I am iHeartDomains and be able to create a billboard and tell people you know to get to anything related to iHeartDomains and be able to create a billboard and tell people to get to anything related to iHeartDomains. You can either use iHeartDomainscom or iHeartDomainseth or whatever it is, and then being able to go to either one, see the same information, being able to verify on the blockchain. You know that it is a legit company, that they are dealing with the correct entity, that they are sending money to the correct entity Again, substantial in value and we'll continue to see more cases of people integrating that and implementing that into, you know, everyday business.

Speaker 1: 26:33

And then, lastly again I want to keep this short what is the future of Web3 domains? Lastly again I wanted to keep this short what is the future of Web3 domains? As I had said earlier, you know, as we start to see more companies, more businesses, you know, utilize and acquire this for branding, and that's another thing too. I kind of need to explain the different ways that you know, or the different types of Web3 domains that can exist, or the different examples that we may see. Just as I mentioned, you know, we have Web3 native naming services such as ENS. You know, FreeName, unstoppable with the on-chain native TLDs. The bridge that has now been built between Web2 and Web3 has allowed tokenization of traditional, you know, coms, ios, all that good stuff. So big brands, huge brands that already have their com, have the ability and have already been, you know, turning those coms into Web3 and crypto addresses. And the future of these assets whether it be a Web2 domain that you converted to Web3 or whether it be a Web3 domain asset you converted to Web3 or whether it be a Web3 domain asset is hopefully the integration into everyday life, and by that I'm meaning, you know, integration into some of the products and services that we already use in, you know, the traditional TradFi space. One huge example of that is, you know, the recent PayPal Venmo integration that was achieved by ENS. You know the recent PayPal Venmo integration that was achieved by ENS. You know a traditional P2P payment provider has now integrated the ability to resolve crypto addresses, or at least eths in this case, and you know, of course, we anticipate that that will expand to other naming services or will at least include tokenized W2 domains. But now something that millions of people, hundreds of millions of people use and have adopted in the traditional space, has now created a use case for Web3 domains and has now opened the door for these people to now accept crypto using this personalized digital identity. I believe that we'll continue to see much more integrations of that type of service, more integrations of that type of service.

Speaker 1: 28:40

Went to UT Austin yesterday for their university tour. I guess they have a tour where they're visiting, I think, 15 or 20 different universities across the country the country, I mean the US, you know trying to recruit and onboard, you know, students and student groups into building a Web3, inviting people to hackathons all that good stuff. But one of the entities that was there to sponsoring it is a company called Aon, and they're actually going to be an API to provide blockchain payments on the back end. Their goal is to make it as easy to buy something with crypto as it is for you know you to use your debit or credit card, you credit card, to buy a snack from the gas station, and they're doing so by creating APIs and this is going to be account abstraction APIs as well, where you can use whether or not you have ETH. On ETH, you can send a transaction that ends up on Polygon, all that good stuff, and we'll do a space on account abstraction sometime in the future. We did one a little while back with obvid that has an account abstraction wallet and basically what it means is that you can use gas that you have on one chain to mint or perform transactions on a completely other chain, and it takes care of it in the back end. So Aon's API will allow people to integrate that thing into wallets payment apps. It will power merchants to be able to accept crypto from consumers, no matter where they're sending that funds from. If you've got 20 bucks of USDC on Polygon or on Solana, you should be able to go to their app and make a transaction and not have to worry about switching wallets, doing bridges, any of that good stuff.

Speaker 1: 30:19

So you have quite a few people that are now looking at ways to make crypto itself usable in everyday life, and that's just one example. Again, biggest use cases are payments, so it's no surprise that you know a lot of development. You know to be kind of the initial product that's introduced to the masses would revolve around payments, because it's really the easiest thing to understand. But even beyond that, you know we'll start getting into things like you know, being able to build and name AI agents that have their own wallets, and these are, you know, kind of AI twins that are actually, you know, may perform or be more productive than even we are. You know I've said many times, anything and everything that lives on the blockchain will potentially need a Web3 address to get to, for, you know, indexing for merchandising, for supply chain management, for all of that good stuff. So you know the future of integration of these into everyday life I think is going to continue to grow, especially now, and this isn't a political conversation but just stating the obvious.

Speaker 1: 31:27

You know the political climate in the United States and you know the new government that is now going to be taken over is a very pro crypto government, is a very pro-crypto government. You know one of the theories that was discussed yesterday at UT Austin with a panel that was very fortunate to be able to listen to and attend. You know they've kind of laid out how the space has already been growing and how there are plenty of applications and a lot of development in other parts of the world as opposed to the US because of the you know of the previous administration's restrictive policies on crypto. I think one person said to the extent of if you could send CZ to jail, you could send anybody to jail, and that scares the bejesus out of anybody who wants to build in the US.

Speaker 1: 32:12

So if that attitude changes, which we do, anticipate it to be. It will potentially open the floodgates for development here in the US, and I anticipate not only our government stepping in, private enterprise stepping in, but also even entities that are outside of the country, you know, forming partnership and developing things that integrate crypto. So, as crypto itself becomes more integrated, as crypto itself becomes more integrated, again, the asset that most, the only identifier that most people have or that anyone will have in order to route crypto or any assets to you, is that blockchain address. So, as more blockchain, as blockchain addresses, become more used, there is an obvious need for humanization of those addresses and for these assets, and then that hopefully, potentially will increase the future potential resale value, and I know that's why a lot of people are in this space me included. Right, obviously, I'm here for the tech. I will always be here for the tech. My primary purpose of being in this space is to help develop the tech, but we're also here to make a profit, right, and that's why a lot of us bought a bunch of bags early on of these Web3 domain assets and even a lot of us own, you know, tlds that we may or may not take all the way to the ICANN level, but still, you know, create communities on in the Web3 space.

Speaker 1: 33:41

So, with that being said again, as right now we're dealing with millions of people that are in the space, one day we'll have billions of people that are in the space, and not only billions of people, but we'll have billions of things that all need their own identity, that may all need their own name. You know Elon is talking about making robots, right. That will eventually, you know, take over your life and tell you what to do. Those things will need names, especially if they're connected to the blockchain and so supply and demand right. Even though there is an infinite possibilities of the type of names that you can create and spin up on the blockchain, only a few will have that type of commercial value that you know people will flock to in order to secure as their own identity. Right, and those few, you know, I don't think the industry has chosen yet.

Speaker 1: 34:32

Obviously, you know, eth is extremely popular. Uds TLDs are extremely popular. Free names, tlds such as airdrop, metaverse, all that good stuff are extremely popular. Uds TLDs are extremely popular. Free names, tlds such as airdrop, metaverse, all that good stuff are extremely popular. The potential for, you know, a resale value on these increasing as more people come into the space as there is more demand is pretty obvious and great. So, not financial advice, but you definitely have the opportunity right now and I know a lot of us are already way, you know, on that side of the fence already with big old bags of Web3 domains. But I think that will definitely pay off and play out pretty well. And then, lastly, the future with ICANN.

Speaker 1: 35:15

So, yeah, a lot of the discussions that we have with the traditional Web2 space, a lot of the dismissal of value of Web3 domains, comes from several different places, and one of the primary things is that they don't currently resolve natively within Google or Brave or any of those, to content in the same way as Web2 domain addresses do. They're not meant to right, like I said, you know, the primary use case of Web2 domains is for on-chain digital identity, on-chain transactions, to make on-chain payments using the blockchain. But pretty much, you know, since the beginning of their existence you know, most of the entities or registrars in the space have been trying to create some kind of workaround to add that utility, because we understand that it is important, you know, if you're buying a TLD and you're wanting to own and create your own content on the blockchain. You're kind of wanting to keep that in the same, you know, in the same ecosystem, and build that on your Web3 domain, as opposed to building it in the centralized Web2 DNS system, although purely decentralized. You know, web2 resolution may not, you know, be in the future.

Speaker 1: 36:32

As I said earlier, the bridge between Web2 and Web3 is becoming a lot shorter, between Web 2 and Web 3 is becoming a lot shorter. So the future with ICANN and going back up to the top, icann has been, you know, has been putting out a lot of tweets lately. You know their new round of GTLD applications is coming up in 2026, which is really just right around the corner, and I think that they're expecting a lot of blockchain naming services to put their hat in the ring, rather than seeing, you know, content and posts discouraging us from doing that. What we're seeing from ICANN is a lot of encouraging posts, including the one, like I said, pinned up above that explains what blockchain tech even is, and then subsequent tweets that have come after that are explaining how the process for applying for a gtld uh will be. Uh. So the future with icann for many of our web through tlds, um, you know, may actually, uh, be many people getting their wish, and that is, you know, the, the dot coms, the dot x's, the dot d gins, the dot.

Speaker 1: 37:35

Anything is that we have gotten used to in the web, through space, potentially even becoming with two domains and being able to resolve natively not only to your blockchain address but also to any web content, anything like that. You've created so big future for these assets, but it is important to understand that it is very basic. It has value in being able to be your identity on the blockchains and it has value in being able to help people identify, find and send you not only cryptocurrency but other blockchain assets, using something that they can easily remember and that you can easily verify, without having to do copy and pasting and then basically sitting on pins and needles until the payment clears or until they find out they sent it to the wrong address. So, yeah, just wanted to do again. Wanted to do this quick refresher.

Speaker 1: 38:33

We will be back next week and next Friday with another topic. The free name team should be back from ICANN by then and I'm looking forward to spaces and conversations again with what the vibe was like out there. You know many other people who are going out. There are going out there now, having read these articles, and I'm sure that there's going to be conversations about it. You know, and hopefully you know, entities like Free Name and whoever else. I don't know who else is going to ICANN, so I can only mention who I knew was going, which is Freename. So once they're up there, hopefully they can open the door a lot wider and make the process a lot easier for us to get adoption.

Speaker 1: 39:11

And, yeah, with that being said, this is the end of our tech talk. I want you guys, if you're not already following us here on X and on Warpcast, feel free to do so. Also, you can listen back to this recording and many more at tech talk that host. In a few days, I will have a blog recap and everything like that published to the website, as usual. Yeah, so hope everybody has a great Friday. If you're traveling, have safe travels and, yeah, focus on your mission and not your condition. Happy demanding. I look forward to talking to you guys later, thank you.