In order to understand the VeriSign news, some background information is needed. Internet registrars are those companies that accept applications for and maintain domain-name accounts. Tuvalu s ccTLD is thought to be valuable because television-related organizations would benefit from using the .tv suffix.
Registries are, in a way, domain-name wholesalers.
The system really consists of a set of IP numbers. More than one domain name can be associated with the same IP number. Similarly, domain names can be reassociated with new IP numbers. In a way, domain names are artificial mnemonics created as a convenience that have been reified into concrete property. The ccTLDs were reserved for domain names with a tie to the country they were registered in.