D3 Global Secures $5 Million In Funding To Tokenize Domain Names

TL;DR

• D3 Global receives $5 million in funding led by Shima Capital.

• The company wants to tokenize domain names, merging Web2 and Web3 in the process.

D3 Global Secures $5 Million Funding

The recently concluded Korea Blockchain Week was one of the largest blockchain events held in Asia. Some of the speakers at the event included Ethereum Co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, Wemade CEO Henry Chang, Maelstrom CIO Arthur Hayes, Hashed CEO Simon Kim,  BitGo Co-founder and CEO Mike Belshe, Polygon Co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Line Next’s Business Director Woosuk Kim, and SkyBridge Capital’s Founder and Managing Partner Anthony Scaramucci.

The event saw the presence of some of the leading Web3 companies, including The Sandbox, the Klaytn Foundation, 1inch Network, Oasys, and several others. 

During the conference, D3 Global, a tech venture co-founded by Shayan Rostam and Fred Hsu, announced that it had obtained $5 million in seed funding led by Shima Capital.

According to a press release shared with Cryptowisser, D3 Global said the funding round includes investments from notable entities such as Lightship, Dispersion Capital, Infinite Capital, Maelstrom, C2 Ventures, and other angel investors.

The company’s long-term vision is to tokenize every domain name in the world, 400 million plus domains. D3 Global wants to tokenize existing top-level domains (TLDs) like .com, .net, and .xyz, and create new TLDs for Web3 communities.

Tokenizing domain names will allow D3 Global to boost the functionality, utility, and security of web domains. The company also envisions a future where domain owners can sell their domains and receive royalties from transactions. 

D3 Global also intends to partner with various Web3 ecosystems to enable them to acquire their own domain extensions, offering integration with Ethereum wallet addresses and other enhanced functionalities.

The domain name tokenization process involves transforming domain names into unique digital assets represented as ERC-721 tokens or other Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) implementations. 

The company intends to launch an on-chain marketplace exclusively dedicated to domains, offering over 1,000 top-level domains for tokenization.

At the moment, D3 Global is focused on educating the public about domain tokenization and facilitating primary tokenization. However, it will turn its attention to developments, including fractionalization and lending tools, in the future. These could further enhance the functionality and appeal of domain tokens.

For D3 Global’s plans to work, it would need cooperation from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the body responsible for overseeing domain names and IP addresses. ICANN’s support is crucial for the success of D3 Global’s vision.

Overall, D3 Global seeks to reshape the domain name industry and close the gap between the traditional web2 world and the emerging web3 landscape.