Let’s Encrypt Opens the Door to HTTPS by IP: IPv4 and IPv6 Certificates With a 160-Hour Lifetime
For years, web encryption has relied on a basic assumption: if a service wants HTTPS, it needs a domain name. That’s practical—people browse names, not numbers—but also historical: certificate validation and lifecycle management were designed around DNS. That rule has started to change. As of January 15, 2026, Let’s Encrypt has announced general availability of