⚠ An Administration Does Not Have to LitigateHigh threat

VeriSign (VRSN) — threat to the moat

Nobody has to sue VeriSign or fund a competitor. The Department of Commerce only has to decline to approve.

The most consequential decision about VeriSign will be made by people who do not have to explain themselves.

The pricing argument, in numbers$10.26charged in 2025$0.87-$4.37argued fairtendered priceNov 2024letter to NTIAand the DOJ3 weekslater, renewed onthe same termsThe low estimate is a third-party advocacy figure, not a market price.
Nobody has to litigate. The Department of Commerce only has to decline to approve.

The Department of Commerce's prior written approval is required for changes to the pricing section of the Cooperative Agreement, and for changes to certain other specified terms.1 That is not a court, a regulator with a rulemaking process, or a counterparty with commercial incentives. It is an executive-branch agency whose leadership changes with administrations.

The 2018 amendment that restored VeriSign's ability to raise .com prices was a policy decision. It could be revisited as one. In November 2024 a U.S. senator and a member of Congress wrote to NTIA and the Justice Department urging exactly that, and an advocacy group has argued that a competitively tendered price would be $0.87 to $4.37 against the $10.26 then charged.2

The agreement renewed automatically on the same terms three weeks later, which is the strongest available evidence about how this usually goes.

But note what "usually" means here. VeriSign's pricing power has been suspended by policy before — the freeze that ran from 2012 to 2018 was exactly that. It is not a hypothetical. It is a thing that has already happened once.

References
  1. ReportedThe Department of Commerce's prior written approval is required for changes to the pricing section of the Cooperative Agreement and for changes to certain other specified terms; the agreement renewed automatically on the same terms on 30 November 2024.
    VeriSign, Inc., Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2025 (SEC, CIK 1014473) — Item 1, Business. VeriSign operates the .com and .net registries under registry agreements with ICANN, and .com additionally under a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce (most recently amended by Amendment 35 on 26 October 2018, automatically renewed on the same terms on 30 November 2024 for a successive six-year term, renewing again on 30 November 2030 unless the DOC gives notice). The .com Registry Agreement runs a six-year term that must be renewed or extended by 30 November 2030 and contains a presumptive right of renewal, with ICANN able to terminate or refuse in certain prescribed circumstances; it permits an increase to the Maximum Price of up to 7% over the previous year in each of the final four years of each six-year period, the current period having begun on 26 October 2024. The .net Registry Agreement was renewed on 29 June 2023, runs to 1 July 2029 and permits increases of up to 10% each year. VeriSign remits $0.2575 to ICANN quarterly for each annual .com registration and $0.25 for each .name registration. It also operates .cc under an agreement with the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, operates .name and internationalised gTLDs, provides back-end services for .edu, performs the Root Zone Maintainer function for ICANN and operates two of the thirteen global internet root servers. Retail pricing is established by registrars; VeriSign must provide ICANN-accredited registrars with non-discriminatory access, faces marketing and bundling limits, must submit new Registry Services for ICANN review, and is subject to vertical-integration restrictions that apply solely to .com — obligations it states do not apply to ccTLDs and other gTLDs and may create a competitive disadvantage. Named registry competitors include CentralNic, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), DENIC eG, GoDaddy, Google, Identity Digital, Nominet, Public Interest Registry, Radix and .xyz. Employee headcount 928 (256 cost of revenues, 240 research and development, 432 selling, general and administrative). — FY2025 · publ. 2026-02-05 · source ↗
  2. Third-party estimateSenator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jerry Nadler wrote to NTIA and the Department of Justice in November 2024 urging action on .com pricing, and an advocacy group has estimated a competitively tendered wholesale price of $0.87 to $4.37 against the $10.26 then charged.
    American Economic Liberties Project — statement on the NTIA decision to leave the .com Cooperative Agreement in place. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jerry Nadler wrote to NTIA and the Department of Justice in November 2024 urging action on VeriSign's control of .com pricing; the group's policy brief argues that a competitively tendered .com wholesale price would be between $0.87 and $4.37, against the $10.26 in effect from September 2024, and that the arrangement locks in increases at more than twice inflation while foreclosing competitive re-tendering. — 2024 · publ. 2024-11-27 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 23, 2026