EnCirca’s Barrett to Moderate Blockchain Panel at NamesCon

EnCirca’s Tom Barrett will be moderating the Blockchain Panel at NamesCon in Austin, Texas on January 30 at 10am.

The themes of the session include:

1. How is a blockchain domain different from a traditional DNS domain?
2. What benefits do blockchain domains bring other than being on a blockchain?
3. Who controls the blockchain domains. Can anyone take them down?
4. How do trademark protections work with blockchain domains?
5. What role does ICANN have to play regarding blockchain domains?

Tom has recruited several Blockchain experts to discuss the opportunities and threats of Blockchain for domaining,  including:

• Bradley Kam from .CRYPTO’s Unstoppable Domains
• Brantly Millegan from Ethereum’s Ethereum Naming Service (ENS)
• Tieshun Roquerre from Namebase
• Mike Toutonghi from Verus Coin
• Christa Taylor from .LUXE’s Minds+Machines

Currently, Tom is the inaugural Chair of the International Trademark Association’s Blockchain Committee with a focus on leveraging Blockchain technology for anti-counterfeiting, global trademark registries, brand identifiers (domain names) and rights protection mechanisms.  Tom has been at the cross-section of trademarks and domain names since 1995 when he led the development of a trademark research platform for trademark lawyers.

Tom is the President and Founder of EnCirca, an ICANN-Accredited Registrar formed in 2001 outside of Boston, Massachusetts.  EnCirca specializes in partnering with TLD Registries that have restrictive eligibility policies.  For example, EnCirca is the leading Registrar for .BANK, .BOT, .PHARMACY and .REALTOR (via its Name Share subsidiary).  EnCirca is the only ICANN Registrar that also supports new Blockchain domain names, such as Ethereum’s .ETH and Unstoppable Domains’ .CRYPTO.

In addition to moderating the Blockchain panel, Tom will also be hosting an expert roundtable at NamesCon on Thursday, January 30 at 2pm.