DomainFi infrastructure leader D3 Global announced the closing of a $25 million Series A funding round led by Paradigm. The funding round was also joined by notable investors, including Coinbase Ventures, Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder of Polygon Labs, Dharmesh Shah, the founder of HubSpot, and Richard Kirkendall, CEO of Namecheap, highlighting the support from Web2 and Web3 leaders for DomainFi, a decentralized finance layer to accelerate the growth of domains as a real-world asset class.
D3 is creating the world’s first DomainFi network on the Doma Protocol, an innovative blockchain that transforms existing and future domains into a modern form of digital real estate. And by announcing the launch of Doma Protocol, D3 aims to unlock new liquidity, innovation, and financial opportunities for the internet domain industry and major crypto communities. D3’s DomainFi network will offer participants benefits like asset appreciation, fractional ownership, domain-based lending, and enhanced digital identity and branding.
Doma Protocol is the first-ever blockchain purpose-built for the Internet’s stakeholders and designed to meet ICANN’s stringent compliance requirements and industry standards. And this ensures that the blockchain is fully compatible with the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS) and can be easily integrated with domain industry tools and processes.
Doma also creates a futureproof between the DNS and Web3 name systems, ensuring both domain state and streamlined operations across registries, registrars, and crypto communities are all mapped correctly on-chain. Doma abstracts underlying infrastructure complexities such as ICANN compliance and other DNS-specific requirements within the domain value chain (renew, manage, transfer, etc.) enabling for tokenization of existing and future domains on a verified basis. Through verified tokenization, Doma enhances domains’ composability, liquidity, and interoperability, representing a paradigm shift in how domains are registered, traded, and utilized across both Web2 and Web3 ecosystems.
Alongside Doma’s launch, D3 also unveiled a new DomainFi community at the company’s Dominion conference:
1.) Solana – D3 and Solana Foundation are building infrastructure to bridge Web2 and Web3 domains on Solana’s blockchain, further integrating Solana’s vision to promote interoperable payment and identity solutions. This includes applying for the .SOL and .SOLANA Top-Level Domains (TLDs) and tokenizing traditional domains like .com, .xyz, and .ai.
2.) Avalanche – As a D3 partner, Avalanche plans to apply for and launch the .AVAX Top-Level Domain (TLD). As a flagship DomainFi partner, Avalanche will provide DeFi utility and liquidity for the $340B+ domain industry through its interoperable network and vast ecosystem of developers.
3.) OneFootball – With a D3 partnership, OneFootball plans to use .football domains as the fan identity infrastructure for their worldwide community of over 180 million active monthly users.
4.) Plume – By integrating DomainFi as a new vault category with its newly-launched Nest Protocol, Plume will enable tokenized domains to generate institutional-grade yields and democratize access to traditionally restricted assets and opportunities.
5.) Hockey.com – DomainFi democratizes access to premium domains through fractional ownership of tokenized assets like Hockey.com while providing liquidity options for current owners.
The funds raised from this round will accelerate D3’s commitment to building the DomainFi economy, such as technologies to expand domain functionality as composable assets and programs to onboard domain name system operators—such as registrars and registries—to utilize DomainFi for their operations. And through strategic partnerships within the traditional domain industry and top Web3 communities, D3 will pave the way for DomainFi to democratize digital asset ownership for over 5 billion connected Internet users, transforming the domain industry on a global scale.
KEY QUOTES:
“Internet domains have long been a valuable asset class. And for the first time in nearly three decades, we have the opportunity to modernize and transform the technologies and processes currently used by the domain industry through the Doma Protocol. The DomainFi economy will usher in a new era of innovation and financial opportunity as every domain, community, and user comes on-chain.”
– Fred Hsu, CEO and Co-Founder of D3
“Domains were the first digitally native asset class and are still one of the largest. Bringing domains on-chain will make them more liquid and enable innovative new types of financial products, while giving crypto ecosystems like Solana access to names that work with the rest of the existing internet. The D3 team is uniquely suited to rebuilding domain infrastructure for the future of digital markets, and we’re excited to back them.”
– Charlie Noyes, General Partner at Paradigm
