Developer launches 'The Moshpit' to bypass ICANN domain rentals

Developer Anthony “chovy” Ettinger has launched The Moshpit, a custom root DNS authority that allows users to claim any top-level domain (TLD) for free. The project aims to decouple the internet's naming layer from the centralized, fee-based system managed by ICANN.

Operating on a first-come, first-served basis, The Moshpit enables users to claim an entire namespace—such as .eggs or .hacker—without payment. Once a TLD is claimed, the owner can mint unlimited sub-names under that ending. As of August 16, 2026, the registry had already seen 5,679 endings claimed. To maintain record hygiene and avoid stale entries caused by NAT or leased IPs, the system refuses IPv4 literals, requiring all targets to be hostnames or IPv6 addresses.

The end of 'DNS physics'

For three decades, the global DNS system has functioned as a lease-based economy. Users pay recurring fees to registrars to maintain their domains, facing the risk of losing their digital identity through missed renewals or administrative disputes. Ettinger describes this status quo as a "rent-collection business" that many have mistakenly accepted as an immutable law of the internet. "It is not physics," Ettinger stated, arguing that the naming layer should be treated as a writable file rather than a financial product.

Technical hurdles and sovereignty

Because The Moshpit exists outside the public DNS root, it is not automatically resolvable by standard web browsers. To access the network, users must opt-in by installing a local resolver bridge via the command `sudo moshpit-dns enable` or by configuring a specific DNS-over-HTTPS endpoint at https://dns.moshcode.sh/dns-query.

While these requirements mean the project cannot replace the public internet at scale, it provides a sovereign namespace for developers. By removing financial overhead and the threat of administrative seizure, the system allows technical communities to build and ship applications in an environment where they own their infrastructure entirely.

The path forward

The Moshpit serves as a proof-of-concept for operating entirely outside the ICANN root for specific development stacks or private communities. While the project currently relies on a small set of tools for resolution, it highlights a growing interest in decentralized naming. Whether this model can attract a critical mass of users depends on the willingness of the broader developer community to adopt non-standard resolver bridges in exchange for total namespace autonomy.