Frequently Asked Questions
What is Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)?
DAO is an entity with no central leadership, governed by a community organized around a specific set of rules enforced on a blockchain. Thus, decisions get made from the bottom-up. To quote from ConsitutionDAO, “In Short: so the people own it. Together! ”.
What is DNS?
The Domain Name System (DNS) is the phonebook of the Internet. Humans access website through domain names, like google.com or amazon.com. Web browsers interact through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. DNS translates domain names to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources (In a nutshell, a system to transfer website address into IP address, so you see www.google.com instead of 172.217.24.110).
What is Top-Level Domain?
A top-level domain (TLD) is the part of a domain that comes after the dot, for example, com, org or net. There are different top-level domains, including country-code level domains such as .uk, sponsored top-level domain such as .edu, and generic top level domains such as .xyz (owned by xyz.com LLC, a private company ). .dao would be a generic top level domain (gTLD).
What is Second-Level Domains？
A second-level domain is the name just to the left of the TLD. For example, in “google.com”, google is the second-level domain of the .com TLD.
What is the domain name registration process like and what is the role of each party involved in the process?
In order to reserve a domain name in a gTLD, a domain name registrant must register it with an ICANN-accredited registrar. The registrar will check if the domain name is available for registration and create a WHOIS record with the domain name registrant's information. It is also possible to register domain names through a registrar's resellers.
What is the process to get a new TLD?
We need to apply for the .dao TLD and get approved by ICANN. The domain name which can be purchased from a website such as domains.google.com are mostly second-level domains. The New TLD can only be acquired by receiving the approval by ICANN, a process which requires a significant amount of paperwork and financial resources. Popular domain names for which multiple entities would apply are decided by auction. For example, Amazon outbid Google for ‘.buy’ domain for $4.6 million.
ICANN opens the new gTLD application round only once a decade (the last of which was in 2012), and the upcoming round has yet to be scheduled. So it is very important to show that we are taking an action before the application window opens so that we can prevent big corporations from simply taking the .dao domain by showing that we are gathering together a community and making a move to have .dao owned by people.
When will ICANN open the next round of new gTLD applications?
The timing for the second round has not yet been announced. Based on market news and internal source, we expect that ICANN will open the new application round between 2022 to 2024.
DomainDAO team is watching closely on any updates from ICANN regarding the new gTLDs application. We will hire the most professional gTLD application agents, together with our new talents, to submit our application at the first time of opening.
How big do you expect the .dao domain can grow?
In case of .io domain, which is used by many start-ups and blockchain companies these days, there are more than 270,000 .io websites and .io domain registrations bring in fees of $10 million each year (as of 2020 Aug).
We believe that .dao will become more widely used than .io and even .com as more and more DAOs would prefer to use .dao domain extension.
What if we don’t succeed in getting approval from ICANN?
You can redeem the $DOMAIN after incurred cost.
However, we are confident that we can succeed since we have you, DAO believers, who will not only support us throughout the application process, but will also be the ultimate users of the .dao domain.
It would be ironic to see, WE, DAOers, the users and believers of DAO, lose a bidding war to a corporation who would likely to sell the .dao domain service to DAOers for their own profit.
What is the difference between web2 domain v.s. web3 domain?
Web2 domain is used to run a website that most of us use today while web3 domain such as .eth is wallet address and used to run decentralized website using tools such as mirror.
Is .dao domain a web3 domain?
Currently No. The .dao domain will be a web2 domain. Even though web3 is becoming more and more popular, web2 website is still the easiest way for users to access a website. However, we do have a plan to operate .dao web3 domain system and integrate with other web3 domain services including Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and Terra Name Service (TNS).
I see .dao domain on Unstoppable Domains. How is that different from DomainDAO?
Domain names sold on Unstoppable Domains are web3 domain names. To visit the website, users need to use a browser extension or a browser that supports Unstoppable Domains.
Once our application for .dao TLD gets approved by ICANN and we start the service, users can visit .dao websites without extra software just like we do with any other website.
Most importantly, WE ARE A DAO. It means that every DomainDAO member (you) will write and share the future of .dao together.
Why do you crowdfund on Juicebox?
ConstitutionDAO raised over $40m to buy the Constitution through Juicebox. We believe that we can find enough supporters on Juicebox who want to support the first-ever user-owned domain, DomainDAO.
Where are the funds going to be stored?
We will use the same strategy as ConstitutionDAO for the initial fundraise for DomainDAO. We'll store the funds in a Gnosis multi-sig with the core team for now and will add some of core contributors and partners in the later stage.
How will governance work?
We will have a cap on voting weight so that one person cannot control the DAO's decisions. The multi-sig will confirm transactions on behalf of the community. As the DAO evolves, we will likely to have more sophisticated and more decentralized governance structures. These decisions will be in the hands of the token holders.
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