DecentraWeb

DecentraWeb is a company that offers individuals and entities the ability to buy and register their names or a preferred keyword as a top level domain (TLD), and own it permanently on the Ethereum blockchain. DecentraWeb also offers a non-fungible token (NFT), called DWeb, which is used in the DecentraWeb ecosystem for several functions, including payment of products and services, governance, DNS validator nodes, and staking.

In 2016, the United States government transferred responsibility of global policy development for functions related to internet governance, including registering and assignment of TLDs, to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Through ICANN's system, individuals and entities must pay an application fee of approximately $200,000 or more, along with annual renewal fees.

DecentraWeb offers individuals and entities the opportunity to purchase a TLD for a significantly lower cost than those levied by ICANN. In this offering, DecentraWeb's stated goal is to decentralize the DNS and provide "anyone the ability to permissionlessly create their own top level domain and own it permanently."

Additionally, DecentraWeb hosts its TLDs on the Ethereum blockchain, providing measures of decentralization and security not offered by ICANN's DNS.

DWEB is an ERC-20 utility token on the Ethereum blockchain. DWEB can be used for payment of products and services, rewards, staking, and other functions on the DecentraWeb network. Purchasers benefit from a 50 percent discount by using DWEB in lieu of Ethereum to buy TLDs on DecentraWeb.

Shortly after its founding, DecentraWeb CEO, Michael Calce, revealed backers and investors included AU21, SMO Capital, Fairum Ventures, Magnus Capital, Moonwhale Ventures, New Tribe Capital, Dext Force Ventures, CSP DAO, Synapse Ventures, BlackDragon, Gains Associates, and others. DecentraWeb also announced plans to offer hosting and email services.