2020 is Reshaping The Internet and The Way Companies Choose Domain Names
Smart companies advance their positions during periods of industry evolution with strategic agility.
The biggest disruptors haven’t been afraid to discard what’s “tried and true” for the sake of innovation. Remember that Apple killed the iPod with the iPhone and Amazon cannibalized physical book sales with the Kindle e-reader.
We have and are continuing to see a wave of legacy enterprises make moves away from legacy domains to new-world TrueName domain names as a mark of a forward-thinking, cutting-edge, resilient and industry-leading company.
Examples include ada.support and mojo.vision who raised over $60 Million, and $159 Million respectively in March 2020.
Futurists have grouped periods of technological advancement into “waves”
Alvin Tophler’s 1980 bestseller The Third Wave was the influential futurist’s take on the potential of society, technology, and our culture. In 2016, the book got a modern rewrite from AOL co-founder Steve Case, who wrote from the perspective of someone living in the time that Tophler predicted. In it, Case describes a Third Wave of the internet that will transform the economy and the way we live our lives.
What neither Tophler nor Case would likely have foreseen, however, is 2020’s unprecedented period of rapid technological and cultural recalibration, set into motion by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Forget the “Third Wave,” this is the “Third Wave on Steroids.”
Data confirms accelerated growth and adoption of best-in-class, new-world domain names.
TrueName domains is the world’s largest operator of new-world domain extensions, which are on course to overtake aging .com, .net, and .org extensions. Our data insights are a barometer of online behavior, growth, and industry disruption.
To date, 4.3 million of the currently registered domains using new extensions are using TrueName extensions. Most notably, TrueName extensions are used by businesses whose brand positioning is forward-thinking, well funded, and agile.
In 2020, TrueName published data showing that a trend of industry disruption in decentralized finance is being closely reflected in the .finance extension, which has seen a 700% increase in monthly registrations since the beginning of 2020. During the same period, the DeFi industry overall saw growth soar by nearly 1,000%.
Modern-day futurists and technology pundits speculate we’re experiencing multiple decades of advancement in a matter of months, with various industries set to undergo unrecognizable disruption as we adjust to what is the new normal.
How were the technological waves defined and how does it relate to domains?
As defined by Topher and Case, the First Wave saw the creation of the foundation and infrastructure of the online world. Crucial hardware and software was created. Online pioneers had to convince people the internet was worthwhile and relevant.
This is also where we saw the first websites created and the legacy domain extension, .com, created as an abbreviation for “commercial.”
Cut to the Second Wave at the turn of the 21st century, online marketplaces, social media, and mobile devices allowed people to access the internet wherever and whenever they wanted.
The Third Wave sees us integrating the internet into everything we do, also known as the Internet of Things (IoT). Coinciding with this wave is the implementation of hundreds of modern-day alternatives to .com, allowing businesses to eliminate unnecessary suffixes to their brand, utilizing the space to the left and right of the dot, in addition to re-democratizing internet real estate after decades of over-saturation and manufactured value in legacy domains due to the lack of availability.
Make your mark and secure domains for the new internet with TrueName domains.
