When ICANN brought the global domain industry together in Mumbai for ICANN85, one topic clearly dominated the agenda: DNS abuse mitigation. With nineteen dedicated sessions spread across six days, the level of attention this issue received signals both urgency and a certain level of confusion about where responsibility actually lies within the internet infrastructure stack.

One of the biggest assumptions in the domain name business is that once a registry launches a TLD, distribution will naturally happen through registrars. On paper, that sounds logical. Registrars are the retail layer of the domain industry.

ICANN’s 85th Public Meeting in Mumbai brought the global domain industry together just weeks before the next new gTLD application window opens in April 2026. Much of the public conversation revolved around the upcoming gTLD round, the Applicant Guidebook, and registry service providers. But for registrars, the more important signals were happening in parallel discussions across policy sessions, hallway conversations, and registry-registrar meetings.