Readout from the 14th Domain Trust Community Meeting
On June 3, 2025, the Domain Trust community gathered again to discuss two important items in the initiative’s roadmap: data enhancements and financial sustainability. The two sessions in which the meeting was run also included an open invitation to all registries and registrars (even beyond the participant base of the initiative) to join the Domain Trust Working Group, which started its monthly meetings on June 24.
Data Enhancements
As Domain Trust evolves into a framework for collective action in the fight against domain abuse—that is precisely the objective of the Domain Trust Working Group—data is becoming a central asset again: as a mechanism to understand the value of our community, as a tool to foster engagement, as an objective indicator of collective impact, and as a meeting point with other efforts.
Both sessions were kicked off with an update on the initiative’s data enhancement plan, which is structured along four actions:
- SURFACE – Take the data out of the current API ‘dark box,’ creating a dashboard and mechanisms to visualize the value of the collective work of the initiative’s participants
- ENHANCE – Add new fields to the taxonomy, as identified in a survey conducted in 2024 among the community (initially: Subdomains + Abuse Type + URL + Comments)
- MEASURE – Offer objective, measurable indicators to validate the impact of the actions identified by the Domain Trust Action Working Group
- AUGMENT – Build mechanisms of interaction with other existing datasets
In order to support these changes, the Domain Trust repository is currently being rearchitectured, a process that includes transitioning to a new database, improving internal tooling, and redesigning user interfaces to enhance performance and scalability. All together, these changes, which are expected to be complete by the next quarterly community meeting, will improve scalability, maintainability, and data accessibility.
Financial Sustainability
In 2024, GCA suppressed the partnership requirement—and its associated fees for commercial partners— and opened Domain Trust to any qualified participant, either as community members only or also as data consumers or contributors. The only requirement now is being qualified as participants and signing the data exchange agreements.
The decision opened the community to a much wider pool of participants, but it did not solve the sustainability question, which has become urgent in this time of global change.
How do we make sure Domain Trust can be sustainable in the long term?
We have calculated the estimated cost for just running Domain Trust at $250,000 per year, which would cover the project’s basic infrastructure, human resource needs, and outreach activities.
This is the initial figure we will use to open our first annual fundraising call among participants and other interested stakeholders. The call will include different sponsoring tiers, ranging from $1,500 to $250,000.
Participation will remain free as long as we can keep enough participants voluntarily sustaining the project to cover GCA’s costs. All current Domain Trust participants will receive a detailed fundraising proposal before the next quarterly meeting in August.
Domain Trust Action Working Group
As announced at the last Community Meeting, GCA is facilitating a conversation across different actors in the domain name registration industry to agree on an objectively measurable framework that will eventually lead to a Domain Trust badge (or similar mechanism). The initiative, created within the Domain Trust Community but independent from it, will become implemented by means of the Domain Trust Action Working Group, currently open to any interested registry and registrar.
The process, which is inspired by what MANRS has achieved for global routing security, began with a feasibility check, conducted through one-on-one interviews with key members of the Domain Trust Community. After those, the proposal was refined and finally presented at the June 3 meeting.
The Domain Trust Action Working Group, which held its kick-off meeting on June 26, will guide the execution of the project across 12 consecutive monthly meetings where industry members will work to find a mutual space for agreement under their own terms. GCA will play a Secretariat role there, assisted by a selected group of experts and responders.
The group will focus on creating a consensus-driven, implementable, and measurable set of actions that can make a meaningful impact to reduce domain abuse at a global scale, a real game changer. Those conversations will pave the way for a future Domain Trust badge (or equivalent) and its associated supporting framework, which should include the creation of an “Observatory of Action” to monitor progress and drive accountability. This phased approach will ensure the badge is both credible and actionable, grounded in community input, and supported by clear, measurable goals.
The first meeting of the group attracted 24 participants from 17 organizations and 11 countries. The Working Group will report to the Domain Trust Community regularly on the progress of its work.
Updates on Other Community Initiatives
The 14th Domain Trust Community Meeting was open to organizations that had been engaged with the project at its earliest stages, but had since become dormant in the effort. They were invited to present their work at the Community Updates section of the meetings.
Together with their updates and introductions, some of them expressed interest in Domain Trust’s progress over the past few years and even decided to join the Domain Trust badge initiative from its very beginning. Thanks to all of them for their renewed support!
Finally, among the open topics, ICANN’s INFERMAL Project was featured again, this time with a closer analysis of the correlations studied by the project and a lively discussion on their relevance for the identification of effective anti-abuse practices.
The Universal Postal Union’s cybersecurity and information-sharing framework for the .POST top-level domain and an analysis of several impersonation scam domains targeting the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), with up to 13 different domain names using the string “ftcgov,” worked as a good appetizer for the final conversation, in which the participants came back to the ever-recurring question on the type of incentives (monetary, market-positioning, reputational, security-related…) that will help us finally move the needle in the endless fight against domain abuse.
Next Steps
As the Domain Trust community continues to grow and refine its efforts, these discussions and initiatives reflect a shared commitment to practical, data-driven collaboration in combating domain abuse.
The launch of the Domain Trust Action Working Group marks an important next step to shape the future of the Domain Trust badge.
The June 3 meeting brought together 43 participants from 36 organizations and 21 countries. The next Community Meeting is scheduled for August 26 — and we would love to see you there. If you like what you have just read and are committed to the fight against domain abuse, please reach out to us to get started!
Likewise, if you are a registry or a registrar and would be interested in joining the activities of the Domain Trust Action Working Group, contact us! The next meeting of the Working Group is scheduled for July 29.
