Culminating years of effort on the part of many public and private organizations and individuals, ICANN has now confirmed the root zone is signed and available, and has published the root zone trust anchor so that root operators can begin to serve the signed root zone with actual keys. Initiative partner and Shinkuro CEO Steve Crocker said:

This is a very special day.  Very, very many people, working for many years all over the world made this day possible.  Like the golden spike that completed the first transcontinental railroad in the United States, the signing of the root completes the basic platform for building new levels of trust on the Internet.