--- title: "Before .the Becomes a Dot?" date: 2026-09-24 author: Erwin Groen description: "Before ICANN reveals the next wave of new gTLD applications, the name the/ already exists on Handshake and it is already being used." tags: - Handshake - HNS - OwnTheDot - ICANN - Web3 - Domains image: /media/before-the-becomes-a-dot.png --- There is a name I use often when talking about Handshake: **the/** At first glance, it’s simply a short name. But it represents something that sits right at the heart of what Own The Dot is about. `the/` is a top qlevel name on the Handshake naming system. With a Handshake aware resolver, it can be accessed as: [**https://the/**](https://the/) underneath it, I use: [**https://own.the/**](https://own.the/) underneath that: [**https://own.the/dot/**](https://own.the/dot/) Put together, it becomes: **Own The Dot.** ## A name with structure Most of us are used to reading Internet names from right to left. Take: **OwnTheDot.com** `.com` is the top level domain. `ownthedot` is registered underneath it. The structure behind `own.the/dot/` is different in appearance, but the idea of building names beneath a top level name remains. It begins with: **the/** From there comes: **own.the/** And then: **own.the/dot/** It demonstrates what can be built when you control a top level Handshake name and can create names beneath it. ## It already exists This distinction is becoming interesting because ICANN is preparing to reveal the applications submitted for its **2026 new gTLD round**. At the moment, we do not publicly know all the strings that have been applied for. We do not know whether somebody has applied to operate: **.the** Maybe someone has. Maybe nobody has. Reveal Day will give us those answers But there is something we already know. **the/ exists today.** It exists within Handshake. And I already use it. That does not mean ownership of `the/` on Handshake creates a right to `.the` within ICANN's DNS. They’re different naming systems, operating under different structures and rules. ## Two naming worlds For decades, the Domain Name System has given us familiar endings such as: **.com** **.org** **.net** and country code domains such as: **.au** Handshake introduced another approach. Instead of every top level name ultimately being administered through the traditional DNS hierarchy, Handshake allows top level names to be acquired and controlled through its decentralised protocol. That is how a name such as: **the/** can exist. And why names beneath it can then be created. ## Now the worlds are getting closer What makes the timing interesting is that ICANN is also studying how conventional DNS gTLDs might interact with **alternative naming systems**. The discussion includes an important idea: **What happens when the same string exists in more than one naming system?** Personally, I think it would be a shame if the future of Internet naming resulted in multiple independently controlled versions of the same top level name. Handshake made a deliberate effort from the beginning to avoid conflicts with the existing DNS, reserving existing top level domains and a large number of established names rather than simply duplicating them. As different naming systems move closer together, I think that spirit of avoiding unnecessary collisions is worth preserving That question is no longer theoretical. Alternative namespaces already exist. People already use them. Names have already been created within them. ICANN's current work does not automatically give those existing names priority within the DNS, nor does owning a name in an alternative system automatically create rights to the equivalent ICANN gTLD. But it does mean the relationship between these different naming systems is now being examined seriously. ## What if .the appears? This is what makes the coming ICANN Reveal Day particularly interesting to me. If `.the` appears among the applications, there could eventually be two very different things: **.the** within ICANN’s DNS. and **the/** within Handshake. Same word. Different roots. Different systems. Potentially different controllers. That would make a concept I have talked about for some time easy to demonstrate. The Internet does not necessarily have to contain only one naming system. ## Why Own The Dot uses own.the/dot/ I use **OwnTheDot.com** because the conventional web matters. It is familiar. It works virtually everywhere. And it provides an easy entrance for people who have never experienced Handshake. But I also use: [**https://own.the/dot/**](https://own.the/dot/) because it demonstrates the idea behind the project. It is not simply talking about alternative naming. It is using it. One address belongs to the Internet most people know today. The other provides a glimpse of another way names can work. They can coexist. ## Before Reveal Day Soon, ICANN will show us which new top level strings people and organisations have applied for. Perhaps `.the` will be there. Perhaps it won't. Either result is interesting. Because before that list is revealed, there is already a `the/`. There is already an `own.the/`. And there is already: [**https://own.the/dot/**](https://own.the/dot/) You don't have to imagine it. It already exists… ⚪️ **Own The Name | Own The Rules | Own The Dot.**