Unstoppable Domains raises $4M to create a decentralized domain registry

Unstoppable Domains is on a mission to make the Internet more censorship resistant. Announcing a new $4 million round of financing on Thursday, Unstoppable Domains is building a registry for domain names secured by blockchains. The round was led by Draper Associates with participation from investors including Boost VC. The company has also received grants from the Ethereum Foundation and Zilliqa Foundation.

Tim Draper, a managing partner of Draper Associates, said, “By decentralizing domain names, Unstoppable Domains has the potential to spread free speech around the world. Get your blockchain domains and don’t let them be controlled by anyone else, ever!”

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With Unstoppable Domains, users can register for the .zil domain extension, enabling them to create websites that leverage the decentralized storage network, InterPlanetary File System, for data storage. These domain names can also be used to replace crypto addresses, enabling users to use their .zil domain name when receiving crypto payments. For example, instead of sending a string of letters and numbers making up a crypto address, a user could send mywallet.zil to receive crypto.

“There are more than 350 million traditional domains registered,” said Matthew Gould, Unstoppable Domains CEO, “and they’re worth more than $20 billion, but only businesses use them. Everyone needs a blockchain domain because it makes it easier to receive cryptocurrency. We think the number of blockchain domains could be more than 2 billion.”

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Steven Zheng is a researcher for The Block. He joined The Block in August 2018. Steven graduated from St. John’s University with a degree in economics. Previously, he covered blockchain and crypto at Radicle, a startup analytics firm. He also had brief stints at Cheddar, a media startup, and Bowery Capital, a venture capital firm. He owns bitcoin. Follow Steven on Twitter at: @Dogetoshi

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