See [1] for ICANN’s historical and recent thoughts on cross-ownership of registrars and registries. They have already allowed cross-ownership for new gTLDs for

See [1] for ICANN’s historical and recent thoughts on cross-ownership of registrars and registries. They have already allowed cross-ownership for new gTLDs for a while (or am I mistaken?). IMO one important function of registrars is handling international payment systems. If it were completely up to PIR, I wouldn’t be surprised if they only accepted Visa and Mastercard like so many American businesses selling digital products with no regional restrictions otherwise.[2] That largely wouldn’t be a problem for Americans and Western Europeans but would be terrible for most of the world’s population. This is not an argument against registries offering optional direct-to-registrant services, though. [1] https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/bm/rationale-cross-ownership-21mar11-en.pdf https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/bm/rationale-cross-own... [2] Maybe PayPal as well, maybe even wire transfer. Anyway, the point is only US-centric or first world-centric payment would likely be supported.