I still haven’t heard anything back from Freenom. Just sharing some notes of what I found.

u/jweaver0312 shares an email received from Freenom:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Domains/comments/1uko56l/comment/oz3wy2p/

I got a similar email too but my domains were reset to 01-01-2033

Thanks for reaching out, and I understand the concern about your domain(s).

A little background: the free domains offered under the previous operator, OpenTLD B.V., were extended for a period while the business was being transferred to a new operator. That transfer is now complete, and under the new operator, IPTI B.V., the free-domain tier is being discontinued. As part of this change, legacy free domains have been set to expire on 31 July 2026.

You can keep your domain(s) by renewing them as paid registrations before that date. Please log in at freenom.com, go to Services → Renew Domains, and complete the purchase there. The cost is €9.95 per year.

Kind regards, Support team

Based on some preliminary searches, I believe “IPTI B.V.” is “INTERNET PAYMENT TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE B.V.”

Based on company records of the French government, we can see in addition to its Haarlem address (which I sent a letter to in my previous post), there is also a French address “54 RUE SMOLLETT 06300 NICE”. A director named “Jeremie GODRECHE” is also listed.

Searching for this name, I found a news article from 2015: https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/digital-economy/freenom-launches-ml-domain-in-malaysia-expects-business-to-boom. It describes Jeremie Godreche as “Freenom COO”.

So I guess, “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”