The patent number 11,570,141 (pdf) has been granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to Afilias (now part of Identity Digital) for a system for Coordinating transactions for domain names administered using a domain name portfolio. This system makes it easier for registrars to interact with registries that have multiple top level domains.



With the launch of hundreds of top level domains, domain registrars faced challenges in dealing with them. Earlier, they only had a couple of dozen top level domains (in addition to ccTLDs) to deal with, having a single connection to the registry and a single pool of funds for each top level domain. But with hundreds of gTLDs, this system became unmanageable. Many of these TLDs were with a single registry, making it impractical to have a separate login and fund/payment method for each TLD.

This problem was solved by the new patented system, where registrars have one connection or login to the registry operator's system, and coordinate all transactions for all the registry's domains. They can also have a single deposit or payment method to handle all transactions for their top-level domains. It is likely that most larger portfolio TLD operators already have such a system.

Is this really a solution, or just a band-aid for a much deeper issue in the domain registration industry? By creating a single point of failure with one connection for all transactions, we might be inviting vulnerabilities that could be exploited.
Moreover, this system seems to cater primarily to the needs of large portfolio operators, potentially sidelining smaller registrars who struggle to keep up with the pace of innovation.