Domain investor Monte Cahn has revealed himself as the third partner in the controversial acquisition of new gTLD .hiphop from UNR.
Cahn Enterprises named itself alongside already-reported consultant Jeff Neuman of JJN Solutions and publicly traded startup Digital Asset Monetary Network (DigitalAMN) as a partner in newly formed registry vehicle Dot Hip Hop LLC.
DHH bought .hiphop privately from Frank Schilling's UNR last April at around the same time as UNR auctioned off the other 22 gTLDs in its portfolio, exiting the registry business.
Cahn founded the registrar Moniker, aftermarket pioneer SnapNames and gTLD auction coordinator RightOfTheDot.
RightOfTheDot's Scott Pruitt has also joined DHH to lead marketing, Cahn's press release revealed.
The new registry plans to lower the price of .hiphip domains, which currently retail for over $150 a year, as part of an effort to get broader adoption in the hip-hop cultural community.
The company is strongly pushing digital empowerment and "financial literacy" in an "underserved" community as a public benefit of its plans for the TLD.
The problem DHH continues to face is ICANN's ongoing blocking of the transfer of .hiphop, and the other 22 UNR TLD contracts, due to confusion about the ownership status of matching TLDs on the Ethereum Name Service, a blockchain-based alt-root.
ICANN is fearful of alternative DNS roots which, if they ever gain broad appeal, in theory could break internet interoperability as well as eroding ICANN's own uniquely powerful and uniquely lucrative authority over the DNS.
DHH's Neuman recently accused ICANN of foot-dragging and retaliation over the delayed transfers, which is costing the DHH partners money while their legal status is in limbo and they are unable to sell any names.
ICANN's top brass subsequently denied these accusations, saying the Org is merely following its established (and rather convoluted) appeals procedures.
While these procedures could delay approval of .hiphop's transfer for another few months, forcing DHH to burn more capital, ICANN said it is "considering the potential impact on the requestor as we have been requested to do", so it may cut DHH some slack.
Source from Domain Incite
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