ApeCoin DAO Approves .APE Top-Level Domains

The ApeCoin community has unanimously agreed to register “.APE” as a new top-level domain (TLD) with ICANN. ICANN is the organization responsible for IP addresses and domain names globally. This decision aligns with ICANN’s plan to introduce new generic top-level domains by the second quarter of 2026. The ApeCoin decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) has proposed collaborating with D3, a specialist in Web3 domains, to create the .APE TLD as a tangible asset.

The proposal received overwhelming support from the ApeCoin community, with 91.68% voting in favor and 8.32% voting against it. D3 will take the lead in preparing and submitting the application, which is expected to take around a year. As an immediate identifier for users, D3 also plans to offer APE-linked name tokens within the Web3 ecosystem.

The ApeCoin DAO anticipates that once launched, the .APE domains have the potential to generate significant annual revenue, amounting to millions of dollars. Under the agreement, gross revenues from the APE name tokens and the .APE TLDs will be split evenly between ApeCoin DAO and D3. It’s important to note that owning a TLD is not possible. ICANN contractually grants exclusive operation and monetization rights for each TLD, with automatic renewal every 10 years.

The initiative will require three million ApeCoin (APE) in total costs. D3 will be responsible for ongoing technical and operational expenses related to managing the .APE namespace, while ApeCoin DAO will contribute to co-marketing efforts. In a separate development, GoDaddy and Ethereum Name Service (ENS) announced a partnership in February 2024, allowing users to link Web3-based .eth domains with DNS top-level domains at no charge. This partnership eliminates the previous barrier of high gas fees that discouraged users from integrating domain names with ENS.

Paul Nicks, president of domains at GoDaddy, described this collaboration as the fusion of domain names and blockchain technologies, benefitting both the Web2 and Web3 ecosystems. Earlier in July 2023, GoDaddy’s Web3 competitor Unstoppable Domains introduced additional payment methods and functionality to streamline management of ENS domains, giving users the ability to purchase .eth names.