Domain ownership verification protocol — Atom proposes

DomainAttest makes it easier for marketplaces and domain sellers to verify ownership.

Domain name marketplace Atom disclosed a fresh initiative today to help marketplaces validate domain ownership and keep their domain name inventory fresh.

DomainAttest is an open protocol that allows domain sellers to verify domain ownership with a simple login to their registrar.

The idea is to make it easier to verify domains. Right now, sellers usually need to add a verification nameserver or a TXT record to verify ownership. This has some drawbacks, counting that it’s a pain for sellers.

Adding a TXT record is often out of the question since the seller points the domain directly to a marketplace’s nameservers. This means they can’t add a TXT record.

For example, you can’t point your domains to Atom nameservers and verify them with Sedo with a TXT record.

Verifying with DNS can also be challenging when you want to list your domains in multiple places.

Some sellers briefly change their nameservers to verify them, and then switch them back. That’s a lot of work and only provides point-in-time verification rather than ongoing verification.

The first version of DomainAttest won’t solve all problems.

It’s still a point-in-time verification, although it would be easy for marketplaces to require periodic verifications since the process is so simple.

Additionally, it’s set up as one domain per registrar attestation. Sellers won’t have to log in to their registrar multiple times to verify multiple domains, but they will have to verify each domain individually. Batch verification is in the works.

Finally, it’s not as foolproof as the “real-time” systems that syndicated, immediate transfer networks have in place. When you unlock or begin transferring a domain listed with AfternicDLS, Afternic can quickly remove it from its network.

Still, there’s a lot of inventory on both Afternic and Sedo that isn’t opted into the distribution networks. And a lot of this inventory is stale.

It’s clear there’s a need for easier ways to verify ownership, and it will be interesting to see if the industry coalesces around DomainAttest.