18(a) Describe the mission/purpose of your proposed gTLD

Prototypical answer:

The intention of Elegant Leader Limited (“Elegant”) in filing this gTLD application is to establish a trusted and reliable namespace in China and in the world. This offers an opportunity for large companies, SMEs, and individuals that are willing to demonstrate themselves as a trusted and reliable entity on the Internet. To fulfill this mission, Elegant expects to align with top-notch registry operator, Afilias Ltd., experienced ICANN accredited registrar, HiChina Zhicheng Technology Ltd., relevant verification and validation agents, and other reputable 3rd-party service providers and neutral associations, to join force and to build a trust-centric .XIN gTLD.

Unlike existing TLDs which may have legacy rules that make some of the registrants data unverified, .XIN aims to verify and validate registrant information at the very beginning of the launch of the TLD, and will do so at an on-going basis. By doing so, .XIN gTLD can strengthen the Internet marketplace in China and in the world with elevated level of trust and reliability for both registrants and users.

Elegant Leader Limited (“Elegant”) is registered in Hong Kong, SAR, China, and is fully controlled by HiChina Group Ltd. registered in Cayman Islands. HiChina Group Ltd. has another subsidiary company, HiChina ZhiCheng Technology Ltd., an ICANN accredited registrar based in Beijing, China. Elegant was setup for the purpose of corporate investment, financing and new business development. Elegant utilizes HiChina ZhiCheng Technology Ltd. in Beijing, China for its administrative and operational functions.

Please note that “XIN Registry” is a registered mark of HiChina ZhiCheng Technology Ltd. (CN #: 9123397). Elegant is an assignee of this mark.


Potential Business Models

Elegant’s best current thinking on potential business models for .XIN gTLD is to have phased roll-out approach. A conservative allocation will be adopted so only a limited number of eligible registrants can apply during the initial launch of .XIN gTLD. This would enable Elegant to:
-- reinforce the mission of building trusted and reliable gTLD without putting the whole .XIN gTLD namespace in risk;
-- collaborate with 3rd-party verification agent and validator and establish commercially practical operation model;
-- analyze registrant and user behavior to enhance services.

Initially, only Elegant-related affiliates and contracted business partners can be the registrant of .XIN. Eligibility requirement of registrant will be further determined prior to launch of TLD and will be made publicly available. This conservative approach shall help ensure the pre-defined mission and purpose, and minimize potential technological, marketing and operational risks. Such approach, subject to change depending upon a range of external factors, will be reviewed at the regular basis. In most likely cases, the initial period will run at least 6 to 12 months after the launch of the TLD.

Elegant plans to work with reputable validation and verification service providers. So far, Trustpass (http:⁄⁄trust.alibaba.com.cn⁄), one of the subsidiaries of Alibaba Group Ltd., and 北京正智信息技術有限公司 (Beijing Zhengzhi Information Technology Co., Ltd.) have both committed to collaborate with Elegant and offer validation and verification services to .XIN gTLD. Elegant expects the list of collaborators to expand over time.

As the purpose of the .XIN gTLD is to build a trusted and reliable namespace, learning registrant and user behavior and statistics will help build usage patterns and models for risk evaluation and mitigation. Elegant will have in-house and outsourced experts to abstract knowledge from operational data. This internal research and analysis will be helpful for Elegant before a wider promotion of .XIN gTLD to the general public in China and later in the world.

Subject to further research and finding, and only after Elegant are satisfied with the overall performance and results in the initial period, the .XIN gTLD will then be opened up for public registration. However .XIN shall maintain a relatively conservative allocation approach and its restrictive nature.

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