I just remembered a point from long ago when the original gTLD round was in play. IIRC Google was floating the idea of starting a registry that would give away 2nd level domains for free and/or bundle them in GSuite (as it had already done with email, cloud file storage, productivity software, etc). I recall hard opposition within ICANN at the idea of a registry being able to freely distribute domains without registrars getting their cut. The idea eventually died because of the barriers in place *caused* by the forced separation of producer and reseller. The concept of separation was invented to address the domination of dot-com and create a level playing field for resellers -- but it becaume an innovation-killer when TLD expansion came around. Attempts to implement the Dell direct-to-consumer model for domains died in their sleep.

That may have changed by now but it's too late -- the innovators have moved on. There is still plenty of hostility within ICANN to "closed" TLDs through which a registry can allocate domains themselves without registrars getting their mandatory pound of flesh. Sure, some domains need to be available for sale by resellers, but why should that be the only -- or even the dominant -- distribution model?

That's one example of how ICANN philosophy, backed by domain-industry greed, erected barriers to innovation. So the innovators circumvented and the public followed.

- Evan