Jump Trading, the firm behind the Wormhole developer, came very close to getting a domain name that matches the name of the cross-chain protocol. Business Insider writes that prior to this, a complaint was filed with the court against its owner, Dick Merriman, of Nevada.

In June 2021, 79-year-old Merriman was offered $2,500 for the wormhole.com domain, but declined, citing the price as “$50,000.” In the future, the owner changed his mind, arguing that the figure he announced was underestimated. In an interview, she also admitted that she never took the offer seriously as the site had become “part of the family” for her.

Merriman got the domain name in 1994, inspired by the 1985 movie Contact, with the help of the characters. mole slots It can travel through space for light years. A science fiction fan started a simple site with a picture from outer space.

Holding company Jump Operations waited several months for a response to their request to comply with the terms set out in the correspondence, and then went to court.

On April 8, a judge banned Merriman from transferring the rights to wormhole.com and instructed registrar Network Solutions to block the domain until a decision was made. Temporary measures were taken without the knowledge of the defendant.

The attorney refused to defend Merriman and subsequently agreed to sell wormhole.com.

“I’m not happy but I accepted. I’m tired”said.

The parties are waiting to sign a settlement agreement. Case documents show that Merriman stood up for his rights alone.

Speaking to Decrypt, expert David Michaels noted that the domain owner can expect between $ 200,000 and $ 500,000 through negotiations.

Recall that on the night of February 3, 2022, Wormhole was attacked by a hacker. The attackers took advantage of this exploit and pulled 120,000 WETH from the project pool (over $319 million at the exchange rate at the time). Jump Trading provided funds to make up for losses.

In August 2021 Jump Trading acquired Certus One, the infrastructure firm behind the development of the cross-chain protocol.