April 22, 2025

By Anand Vora (VP of Business Development & Partner Operations, D3)

I got a chance to sit down with Tom Barrett, Founder and President of EnCirca, one of the most technically forward-thinking registrars in our industry and a charter member of the DomainFi Vanguard program.

As a developer and advisor to multiple blockchain naming projects and chair of the Blockchain Subcommittee at the International Trademark Association (INTA), Tom brings a rare perspective bridging DNS infrastructure, intellectual property, and decentralized identity.

With EnCirca’s DomainFi integration underway on Doma protocol as a D3 partner, Tom and I discuss the evolution of registrar tech, the convergence of Web2 and Web3, and why domains are poised to become the foundation for programmable identity and payments.

Anand: Tom, you have been active in both traditional DNS and the newer blockchain naming space. What is driving your continued interest in Web3?

Tom: The emergence of domain names in the 1990s was disruptive for bricks and mortar businesses and expanded the economy. Web3 enables even more disruption and expansion, with new use cases, including decentralized finance and digital identities. 

At EnCirca, we are committed to making the registrar stack smarter. Whether we are integrating with decentralized naming systems or now with DOMA, our goal is to bring the promise of Web3 into the real world.

Anand: You are known for being one of the most innovative registrars, despite being small. What is your philosophy around pushing the envelope?

Tom: There are over 1500 TLDs and 2700 ICANN registrars. 500 of them sell new gTLDs. EnCirca differentiates itself by collaborating with domain registries who want a different user experience or unique business model compared to the typical TLD.

We have seen a lot of innovations come out of the Web3 naming projects using alternative TLDs. But these projects are struggling to migrate from their sandbox to the real world. Why? Poor user experience, limited use cases and lack of consumer trust.

EnCirca doesn’t see a viable path forward for Web3 using these alternative roots. The logical path forward is an evolutionary one that adds Web3 functionality on top of ICANN TLDs.

Anand: Let us talk about the upcoming integration. What made you decide to bring DOMA into the EnCirca platform?

Tom: The short version? DOMA recognizes that registrars are best positioned to enable Web3 functionality for ICANN domain names.

We are aware of at least seven Web3 projects that claim to tokenize ICANN domain names. But they all have limitations:  some are proprietary rather than open source, or they rely on a specific blockchain, naming service or cryptocurrency. Or they do not fully adhere to best practices for responsible DNS integration by synchronizing with the domain name lifecycle.

DOMA’s approach is the cleanest of all the tokenization projects we examined.

DOMA’s tokenization enables new use cases such as leasing, collateralization and fractional ownership with a protocol that respects the registrar model and brings in compliance, governance, and lifecycle awareness.

EnCirca plans to leverage DOMA to support other use cases as well. We are focused on what we feel will be a universal Web3 use case:  decentralized digital identity and single-sign-on.

We have also made the decision to separate our Web3 project from EnCirca and offer it as an add-on hosting service to other ICANN registrars who are looking to combine DOMA’s tokenization protocol with a digital identity service.

Anand: You have been vocal about domains serving as digital identity for individuals. Can you expand on that?

Tom: Absolutely.

Today, users need to have separate logins for Facebook, Gmail, Amazon, even their favorite domain registrar. EnCirca envisions a future where individuals use a digital wallet linked to their domain name to login into websites. Users regain control over their privacy.

The market potential for selling domain names to individuals will dwarf the current domain name industry. This is why we are offering our digital identity service as an add-on hosting service to other registrars.

Anand: You have made the case that Web3 naming lacks the accountability and continuity protection we have in DNS. What role does a registrar like EnCirca play in solving that?

Tom: Registrars are already on the front line in ensuring consumer trust on the Internet by handling DNS abuse. It makes sense that they help build consumer trust for Web3 as well.

Another advantage that Web3 gains by integrating with DNS is resilience. If a registry or registrar fails, there is a continuity framework to keep domains alive and ensure users do not lose their digital identities. That does not exist in blockchain-based naming yet.

Anand: You have said the real opportunity is not replacing Web2, it is building the bridge. What does that look like in practice?

Tom: That is exactly right. Web2 provides stability, regulation, and governance. Web3 brings ownership, programmability, and liquidity. The win is not choosing one, it is merging both.

With DomainFi, we can take a traditional domain, tokenize it, delegate access via smart contracts, and use it across DeFi or AI ecosystems, all while preserving the DNS foundation.

A digital wallet is required for tokenization. This is where our Web3 identity hosting service comes in. We provide the digital wallet necessary for tokenization and then resolve the domain name to a wallet-based public profile that enables peer-to-peer payments, decentralized storage and use cases that are enabled via tokenization.

While users can bring their own wallet to our service, we believe in the separation of identity and crypto wallets. In our model, your identity wallet is public-facing while you can selectively disclose your crypto wallets

By bridging Web2 and Web3 together, we end up with a solution that just works across the existing Internet without any special browsers or plug-ins while seamlessly enabling Web3 applications.

Anand: What is your message to registrars, brands, and infrastructure players watching all this unfold?

Tom: Experiment now. This is a rare moment where registrars can help shape the next phase of the internet.

If you are a registrar, explore tokenization. Try to avoid betting on solutions that seem proprietary or only work with a particular chain or naming service. DOMA checks all these boxes.

And I am happy to have a conversation with any registrar about our add-on digital identity solution. There is a lot we can learn from each other.

Join Anand and Tom as they continue the conversation live on an upcoming D3 X Space on Tues, April 29th 10am PDT and also in-person during the DomainFi Blueprint event on Wed May 7th 3:30pm in Hanoi, Vietnam during the ICANN CP Summit.