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Verisign has granted the patent for connecting domain names to blockchain addresses: Domain Name Wire
The patent covers the lifecycle of a domain name linked to a blockchain address.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted patent number 12,003,615 to Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) for “Domain Name Blockchain Address Lifecycle Administration.”
THE patent (pdf) describes a way to connect domain names, such as example.com, to a blockchain wallet address.
Once a person associates a domain name with a wallet address, users can send cryptocurrency and other items to that user using their domain name, rather than a hard-to-remember wallet address.
The patent covers the entire lifecycle of such an association, including the creation of an association between the domain and the blockchain address, as well as the deletion, update, transfer and renewal of such an association.
The general idea is not new. Ethereum Name Service has been working with selected top-level domain names since 2018 and open to all domain names in 2021. However, the Verisign patent covers a wide range of activities related to the lifecycle of a domain name, rather than simply manually connecting and disconnecting a domain to a blockchain address.
Verisign filed the patent in May 2021, and was granted today.
The company has several other patents related to blockchain technology.