Blockchain software firm Unstoppable Domains raises $4M from Draper Associates, Boost VC

Unstoppable Domains, a blockchain-based software company, announced on Thursday a $4 million Series A led by venture capital firm Draper Associates.

The San Francisco-based firm said that the funds will be used to create tools so anyone can make a website that cannot be taken down by government authorities, regulatory agencies, and traditional domain providers.

“For global free speech to work, you need to be able to say what you want and you need to be able to operate a business you want,” Brad Kam, Unstoppable Domains co-founder told CoinDesk.

Boost VC, which previously led the firm’s $730,000 seed round last December, was the only other participant in the Series A funding.

Unstoppable Domains creates its own domain extensions which it sells to customers directly. It recently launched its extension .zil, preorders of which are now open.

The service, built on the Zilliqa blockchain, stores the blockchain domains in a user’s wallet, just like a cryptocurrency. It stores website content on InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) or other decentralized storage networks, which makes a takedown request impossible.

In addition, the domains can also be used to replace crypto addresses, allowing users to use a human-readable address to receive crypto payments.

“Everyone needs a blockchain domain because it makes it easier to receive cryptocurrency,” Matthew Gould, Unstoppable Domains CEO, said as quoted by Yahoo! Finance.

The news followed the company's recent announcement to remove its renewal fees for blockchain domain purchases.

“We are doing this because renewal fees are unnecessary on blockchains, thus they shouldn’t exist,” the company said on its press release.